An Old Friend Reunited

Naruto?

Sasuke looked at Naruto. It felt like he hadn't seen the guy in three years. Over those years, he really had learned a lot of valuable things from Orochimaru.

He had indeed benefited greatly. But now, he was nothing more than a tool for revenge. What difference did it make who he was with?

"Sasuke, come back to Konoha with me!"

Naruto's eyes still shone just as brightly, but he was no longer the boy he used to be.

"What are you talking about?"

Sasuke found it a little amusing. Naruto really was naive.

But Naruto persisted.

"Sasuke, come back to Konoha with me!!"

Sasuke thought Naruto was still like a child—absurdly naive. There was no point talking when they weren't on the same page, and Sasuke had no desire to waste his breath.

He used the Body Flicker Technique to appear in front of Naruto and hooked an arm around his neck.

But he didn't attack...

"Naruto, wasn't your dream to become Hokage? Instead of wasting time arguing with me about all this nonsense, you'd be better off training hard."

"Sasuke..."

Naruto fell silent. He didn't understand why Sasuke had become such a stranger. This wasn't the Sasuke he knew.

"You think I'm right, don't you, Naruto?"

With that, Sasuke drew the Kusanagi Sword from behind his back.

"And now... I might just take your life!"

Josuke, watching from nearby, couldn't help but snark to himself. No wonder Sasuke was such a show-off—he'd really nailed the act. But Josuke could show off too; he just didn't feel like it.

Sasuke raised the Kusanagi Sword into an attacking stance, but Naruto didn't dodge. His voice was firm.

"Becoming Hokage is important, sure. But what's the point of being Hokage if you can't even save your friends? How could someone like that become Hokage...? You think so too, don't you, Sasuke?"

Naruto's Talk no Jutsu was impressive. Sasuke didn't even know what to say.

The Kusanagi Sword thrust forward. Seeing Naruto make no move to react, Sai couldn't sit by any longer. He rushed between them and blocked Sasuke's attack.

In an instant!!!

Electricity coursed over Sasuke's body as he struck at the two of them!

Both were injured by Sasuke's lightning. Seeing things turn for the worse, Sakura and Yamato rushed to help, only to be injured as well by the overpowered Uchiha Sasuke. Yamato was even struck by a sword.

Naruto had intended to use the Nine-Tails Chakra to attack Sasuke, but Sasuke entered his mental space and shattered the Nine-Tails' welcome.

(Then there's a bunch of pointless stuff I don't want to pad out the word count with, so I'll skip it. If you want to know what happened, you can check out the original Naruto.)

After he finished speaking, Sasuke raised his hand to unleash a big move, but Orochimaru grabbed his arm.

"Our enemy right now is the Akatsuki Organization. Don't lose your head at a time like this. We and Konoha have a common enemy."

Sasuke thought it over and understood the stakes. He stopped his attack.

Orochimaru was satisfied. He spoke to the empty air.

"All right, Josuke, you don't have to hide anymore. Come out!"

Before he'd even finished speaking, a man who looked almost exactly like Sasuke appeared beside Orochimaru. It was none other than Josuke.

Everyone was stunned. It seemed they really wouldn't be able to complete their mission. They might have stood a chance against Sasuke and Orochimaru, but with Josuke added to the mix, things would be difficult.

Sasuke looked at Josuke too, utterly taken aback.

His eyes were filled with confusion and disbelief, but Orochimaru interrupted his thoughts.

"You can talk after we retreat..."

Orochimaru used Ninjutsu to take himself and the other two away, leaving behind the battered members of Team 7.

Faced with such a helpless situation, Sakura and Naruto were overcome with guilt. If only they'd been a little stronger, could things have turned out differently?

Everyone decided to keep working to improve their strength.

Meanwhile, Josuke sat face-to-face with Sasuke and poured him a cup of tea.

"Go ahead and ask. What do you want to know?"

Looking at his younger brother, whom he hadn't seen in three years, Josuke couldn't deny that he'd missed him.

Sasuke didn't know where to begin, but Josuke broke the silence first.

"How have you been these past three years?"

Sasuke thought for a moment.

"I've been training with him the whole time. Life wasn't great, but it was much better than in Konoha. What about you?"

"I've been training too, just like you."

Sasuke's life had turned out exactly as Josuke had expected. Orochimaru treated his subordinates pretty well, even if he did have ulterior motives when it came to Sasuke.

But it was a mutually beneficial arrangement. Orochimaru had told Sasuke long ago that he intended to take over his body, and he had still held up his end of the deal.

He'd given Sasuke the power he wanted.

Though Sasuke still wasn't as strong as my Itachi-sama.

Ahem, ahem.

Now that they'd broken the ice, there was naturally plenty to talk about.

Sasuke still didn't understand why Josuke had defected to Orochimaru.

"Why... did you come here too?"

Of course, Josuke couldn't tell him about the arrangement he'd made with Orochimaru three years ago. Instead, he brought out the great Pot Kage.

Josuke deliberately made his voice sound furious.

"It's all because of that bastard Danzo!!"

"?"

Knowing Sasuke was confused, Josuke continued.

"Do you know? That night... besides that man, I also discovered that Danzo had deep ties to it all. I don't even know when Danzo took an interest in me, but he wanted my eyes.

"He even threatened that if I didn't comply, he'd make sure I couldn't stay in Konoha. And sure enough, I was framed as a murderer! I had no choice but to leave."

Sasuke was horrified. He clenched his fists. Danzo, huh? Everyone connected to that man had to die!

Sasuke wasn't about to waste time checking whether Josuke's story was true or not. Better to kill the wrong person than let him live. After hearing his brother's words, Sasuke added another name to his blacklist...

Land of Fire

Temple of Fire

Hidan and Kakuzu had successfully killed Chiriku. They cruelly cut off his head and decided to take it to the black market to collect the bounty. Kakuzu carefully examined his blacklist.

It listed over a hundred shinobi, big and small, and half of them had already been crossed out.

That was proof enough of how powerful the Akatsuki Organization's recruited subordinates were.

But they weren't the main characters here. Josuke was. After news of Chiriku's death spread, Josuke came here. The Temple of Fire was nothing like the prosperous place it had once been.

Its former golden splendor was now nothing but ruins. Josuke strode into the temple.

(The following plot points are anime-original, so manga readers, please bear with them.)

When someone approached, the young monk on guard immediately stopped Josuke.

"Sorry, sir. The Temple of Fire has been damaged, so it's temporarily closed to visitors. Amitabha. Please don't take offense, benefactor."

Take offense?

He wasn't about to take offense.

How could he? Being a Rogue Ninja was great—you could live without a care in the world and didn't have to deal with all kinds of restrictions. Normal shinobi were so pathetic that even a dog would shake its head at them.