There was something about traveling for days on end that finally got to him. He could walk a few more miles but he figured rest was necessary. Sasuke took out his bag and scanned around. There seemed to be nothing but sand. He had spent some time moving around the East, trying to put down the unnerving feeling he could not shake off. After having defeated Kaguya years ago, he thought that maybe he could find evidence of more of the Otsutsuki clan but nothing seemed to pop up. He shook off the sand gathered in his sandals, took out a flask and drank some water. Dark was soon approaching and he had to find something to eat else he’d spend the night hungry. His Sharingan immediately spotted a jackrabbit nearby. That would do. He took out a kunai, aimed carefully and shot it skillfully towards his target. It hit with accuracy. He rushed to pick it up and took the dry twigs nearby. The light had already started to sink into the night.
“Fire Style: Subdued Flame.”
Sasuke spat out a tiny flame that instantly sparked the twigs. There was nothing around the area that the campfire would arouse except for wildlife but by now, he was used to doing things in ways that did not call attention to him all that much. As the rabbit was roasting on the flame, he did manage to call the attention of a young fox nearby. It seemed to have a fresh wound, looked horribly malnourished, and from its age, Sasuke could tell it had recently lost its guardians. There was a weak growl to the cub but he was sure it meant no harm. He tore a chunk of the rabbit and tossed it to the animal. The cub took a moment to study Sasuke, then the meat and quietly munched on the food. After it was done, it looked at Sasuke again in anticipation. Sasuke was annoyed.
“You should learn to be thankful.”
The fox whimpered and dared to approach the camp. Sasuke paid no attention to it and delicately broke the rabbit into smaller pieces and began to eat. The fox lay near the flame and gave another soft cry and Sasuke looked at it again, cursing under his breath. Clearly, it relied a bit too hard on Sasuke’s generosity. Sasuke tossed another chunk to the cub and it gobbled it up immediately. Satisfied, the fox lay next to the flame and drifted off to sleep. Sasuke looked at the stars, thinking about Itachi and his family. Were they happy to learn that finally there was peace? That the Uchiha clan no longer had to be defined by the past and no longer had to worry about a future that was grim?
Sasuke placed a kunai on the ground, took out a small tent from his bag, a gift sent by his wife Sakura and activated it next to the blade. It was an adjustable tent that used a bit of chakra to form and circulate heat. It was the only comfort he allowed himself to have on his journey. Not that he had too much of a say on whether he could have it or not.
“We are not discussing this. You are going to carry this with you or you are not going at all.” Sakura was defiant and he was not going to argue with her. “Honestly, sometimes I think you do all this just to torture yourself.” Not that Sasuke could complain.The tent was warm and comfortable. Sakura poured her heart into the invention and it showed. She had claimed that the real reason she wanted to make one was for shinobi who had to be out in the wild for missions but it was clearly too expensive to mass produce so they could only make one periodically. She wasn’t fooling anyone though, Most of the people who worked with her seemed to know exactly what she had planned. Sasuke decided he had to be home soon. Maybe if he was lucky, he could surprise both Sakura and Sarada. He had heard Boruto was returning home soon so he was going to most likely return without her knowing.
With the way his child grew up with a cold heart, Sasuke was more than thankful that Boruto was patient enough to be her friend. He could remember the lonely days when he was a kid and didn’t really want Sarada to share in it. Unfortunately, he wasn’t exactly the best person to teach her how to get along with people so he wasn’t sure what to do. The young boy thus was a miracle and Sasuke appreciated that..The warmth of his bed shifted quickly, and he could sense a chill headed his way. Nights in the desert could shift but never this rapid and in such a dramatic fashion. A sharp swipe tore through the tent and a dark figure stood in the darkness, surprised that Sasuke disappeared. The figure turned and saw Sasuke opposite his tent.
The figure rushed Sasuke for an attack, and Sasuke felt something approaching him. He could detect a faint chakra presence but little more. He dodged it by jumping back.
“Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique.”
The great ball of fire headed towards where he felt the opponent would be and it made contact, only to slowly be doused and the character emerged from the great smoke. It seemed to be human, with possibly a kunoichi build. His feet touched the ground and he took out his blade and it glittered with lightning for a moment and Sasuke danced with the current, dressed in its power and moving at its pace. His blade clashed with another, sparks flying and something flew towards his arm and he evaded in time to see an explosion. This was his cue to evade but he felt it was easier said than done.
Sasuke had a mission before him. He had to deflect both the blade and whatever nearly took his remaining arm. He was positive he could probably do this one-handed but didn’t want to take any chances. His Sharingan turned to Mangekyou and as he did that, a purple exoskeleton formed on his left, creating a rib-cage and a skeletal left arm. He clenched and unclenched his fist for a moment. He could have fleshed out his Susanoo arm a bit more but this was not a fight he wanted to expend too much chakra on. He was now ready to attack. Sasuke shot towards the enemy and began his offense. The figure swiped with the blade and threw what Sasuke now understood to be a mid-range level weapon. The figure could throw it and summon it back and occasionally, it would explode. Thus, it was an item that was manipulated by threads of some kind. Sasuke was tired of trying to guess where the enemy was.
“Amaterasu.”
The dark figure was hit with the dark flames and finally had to materialize to deal with Sasuke’s flames. Sure enough, it was a kunoichi with the headband of the Sand Village and a white turban. Her face bore red marks on either cheek, her blue eyes staring fiercely at Sasuke. From her arms fell strands of burning cloth she seemed to have fastened to either arm with one unwound to a length long enough tof Sasuke to identify it as the weapon that possibly caused the explosions. Sasuke was aware there was a shinobi in the Sand who was known for her ability to manipulate cloth in her attacks but he didn’t remember anyone who had the same ability as Deidara. What made it even stranger was how…he had to confirm this suspicion first.
She ripped her armor, creating new strips of cloth with her chakra and shot both of them towards Sasuke, the cracks that it set off keeping Sasuke from trying to get near her. Sasuke channeled lightning into his blade and struck the cloth as it constantly shot towards him, finding only eruptions that he barely dodged. After a few seconds of this, he drew back and concluded that this wasn’t Explosion Release after all. This meant that for now, he had no choice but to keep evading. Sasuke tossed a kunai past her and switched places with it, showing up behind her, only to find her unwound scarf that caught him by the throat and held tightly. It slowly unraveled allowing the kunoichi to turn and see Sasuke. Sasuke tried to switch places with where his kunai landed but he wasn’t able to.
“I guess you finally can’t use your power to escape. I placed seals specifically to deal with it. He told me getting rid of you would be difficult. I cannot believe he was wrong.”
Sasuke caught the thread with his skeletal arm and it shattered immediately on contact.
“Tch.”
“Now imagine what it can do to your throat.” Sasuke had to buy time.
“I’m assuming you’re not acting on behalf of the Sand Village.”
“You’d be right. Of all the Five, Sunagakure is the least likely to attack you, even if you aren’t exactly a Konoha shinobi.”
“I remember you being among the Allied Shinobi forces. You were even in a few Five Kage meetings afterwards. When did you stop being an ally?”
“When Naruto forgot his path to peace and restarted the Jinchuuriki system. I would tell you more but I believe you’re just stalling for time.” The scarf began to charge and Sasuke could tell an explosion was headed his way. During the short conversation, the young fox, who was hiding in the bushes in fear this whole time, decided to be a bit brave and ran towards the shinobi holding Sasuke, his teeth ready to bite into her leg. Sasuke had noticed and chose to give it enough time to engage. It was injured and it would probably be harmed in attempting to save Sasuke, but he was not above getting help. The fox growled, jumped towards the leg and the kunoichi turned sharply and sent the strip of cloth on her arm towards the canine, knocking it back brutally.
“I don’t believe I have killed it. I have no quarrel with the dog. But you-” Sasuke had just the diversion he needed. The scarf had loosened a little so he decided to…
“Shinra Tensei.”
The kunoichi, in shock, was blown away by the repulsion force from Sasuke’s Rinnegan power and fell to the ground a distance from Sasuke, near the cub. Sasuke was not as adept with his new source of strength and always wanted to regulate his attacks to what he knew but this situation called for it. This fight had to end quickly before he could tire. He took a few seconds to think about his next moves and decided to attack her before she had a chance to retaliate. As soon as she tried to wake up,
“Amaterasu”
He aimed the flames for her cloth, confident she would be able to block the flame with her chakra infused cloth. It wasn’t clear to him how Amaterasu couldn’t burn through but he would survive for now and consider the answer later. He made a clone and the clone rushed for her as she recovered.
“Fire Style: Phoenix Fire Technique”
The clone spat out chunks of flame with hidden shuriken and she blocked them with her cloth, the shuriken harmlessly bouncing off and away. The clone then channeled a familiar lightning technique as one final attack. She channeled chakra and slashed at the clone right as it approached her and it made contact, blasting Sasuke away and she watched in horror as the clone disappeared. She suddenly felt a mighty gravitational pull that snatched her from the back.
“Bansho Tenin”
She tried to turn but it was too late. Lightning tore through her core, and she saw his hand glittering with power as she coughed blood.
“Chidori.”
She closed her eyes in admittance. Sasuke was not only greater than what she anticipated, but it seemed he was able to beat her without going all out. She wasn’t as prepared as she initially thought herself to be and thus needed to escape. She took a deep breath and muttered using her final strength.
“Ten no Fukkatsu (Heavenly Resurrection)”
Her form withered away, drying to ashes and flew into the air. She flowed with the wind towards somewhere safe where she could reform her entity and give information to Ao. Sasuke had the faint feeling that this was only the beginning of something worse. He took out a special summoning scroll and pressed his palm onto it, feeding it as much chakra as he could. He then went to the fox and checked for vitals. It seemed to still be alive. He carried it back to his tent and placed it near his torn tent. He decided he would rest for the night and head for Konoha at dawn.
Ino was asleep on her bed, her hand clasped onto Sai’s, when she suddenly woke up to a sharp sensation hitting her head. An SOS signal had been dispatched. She rose and went to the attic of their house, opening up her map of the world and tried to pinpoint the location and it seemed to come from Sunagakure. That wasn’t unusual. By now, shinobi from different villages could keep in connection with each other so an emergency of that kind was not unheard of. But what was peculiar was the signature chakra of the person sending the emergency, someone she rarely expected to need help of any kind; Uchiha Sasuke. This was enough to call for a meeting soon enough. Ino went to her chakra receiver, fed it chakra and connected herself to every single Delegate, with a message that would be sent exactly at dawn.
“Uchiha Sasuke has declared an emergency.”
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