Return of the Flash by Kamikaze132

Chapter 27

Naruto chased after his rogue comrade, frowning at how he was pushing himself. Granted, even he had removed almost all of his resistance for this mission, but for Sasuke to match the speed he was going at with majority of his resistance removed was rather troubling.

And he felt a bit guilty for feeling this, but he felt excited.

The thought that he might have to use his full power to fight Sasuke gave him a rush that brought a feral grin to his face. For too long he had wanted to have a fight where he could give it his all. He had given it a thought that the coffin that housed Sasuke was part of some sort of process that was supposed to release the full power of the cursed seal. And Naruto knew just how powerful Sasuke was with the seal. He daresay that it would have required every trick in his arsenal to stop Sasuke with the first level of the curse mark, without resorting to Kurama's chakra. But now, he had a feeling that the upcoming fight will be much more challenging.

There was quite a reasonable amount of distance between him and Sasuke, due to the latter having an early start. But as he was catching up, he frowned as he sensed the chakra signature stop in front of him. Why would Sasuke stop? Did he know that Naruto was in pursuit?

Deciding not to let the opportunity slip, Naruto turned full throttle, rapidly closing the distance between him and Sasuke. His eyes widened when he saw Sasuke come into view, but narrowed when he actually deduced just where the two of them had arrived at.

A flash step sent him onto the head of Senju Hashirama, just as Sasuke was once again starting to walk away. Straightening up, he spoke in a normal voice that clearly reached the Uchiha. "I hope you know that I won't let you leave like this, Sasuke."

The Uchiha froze in his tracks, and Naruto watched as he slowly turned towards him. Alarm bells rang in his mind when he took in his appearance.

Sasuke pretty much looked like when the power of the curse mark flowed in his chakra network, but there was a clear difference. Sasuke's left side was covered in black marks, like before, but his left eye had changed, having a black sclera and a golden iris, which gave him a rather menacing look. Not to mention the sick smile that he was sporting. It made him look very deranged.

For a fleeting moment, Naruto's mind recalled the meeting he had with the last person he saw before leaving the village for pursuit.

Flashback

Naruto was briskly walking towards the village gates from where Shikamaru had taken off in pursuit. He was currently in the process of gaining the mindset for the retrieval mission. There was a chance that he might have to kill Sasuke, and Naruto did not like that. If it was possible, he would try his level best to bring him back alive, even if he had to break every single bone in the Uchiha's body.

The thought of killing Sasuke did not appeal to him.

Just as he arrived at the gate, he took a deep breath and let it out. "Be quick in what you have to say, Sakura."

He turned around, a frown gracing his features as he looked at his former teammate. Sakura looked terrible- there were noticeable bags underneath her eyes due to lack of sleep, there were tear tracks on her face and even now, she looked like she was barely holding any more tears at bay.

"Naruto," her voice broke as she bit her lip, holding back the tears desperately. She then continued in a whisper, "Please bring Sasuke back. I beg you."

Naruto sighed as he looked down, contemplating on what to say. He had a suspicion that Sakura's feelings for the Uchiha were not those of a typical fangirl, but it only added to her misery if Sasuke did not care to return those feelings. He decided to be blunt with her, for if he lied...she would never forgive him.