Naruto sighed as he stood there. It was so frustrating that Sasuke was just not listening to him.
"Sasuke, just listen, okay? Did any of our time together mean at least anything?" pleaded Naruto.
Sasuke ignored him and charged. Naruto sighed as he was forced to defend himself by punched Sasuke forcefully to the ground.
"Urg urgh..." groaned Sasuke as blood spewed out of his mouth.
Scratches and minor wounds littered his limbs; his arms and legs were streaked of blood. Naruto's punch was that powerful. Suddenly, Sasuke's form had started morphing.
Naruto's eyes widened in shock. No way! Sasuke had eaten one of Orochimaru's curse pills...The curse pills were a replacement for the curse seal. The pill had the same abilities as the curse mark but the side effects of the pill were much more dangerous.
Naruto gritted his teeth. He had to save Sasuke now before the pills toxin had fully started circulating in Sasuke's bloodstream.
If that happened, Sasuke would...die...
Sasuke groaned louder as he started transforming even more. Orochimaru's curse pill had completely taken over him. His skin turned brown and rough and his hair grew a lot longer. Bat-shaped wings protruded from Sasuke's back. His Sharingan was also activated.
Sasuke grinned as he took out his forehead protector from his pocket and tied it around his forehead.
"Why...Why do you choose to wear it now?" asked Naruto.
"Because...I acknowledge you!" stated Sasuke.
Naruto's eyes widened.
"But...because I acknowledge you...as my closest friend...I need to kill YOU!" growled Sasuke as he charged at Naruto.
Naruto went into a defensive stance. As soon as Sasuke was near him, he grabbed Sasuke's hands and punched him to the ground. Sasuke quickly got back up and tried to roundhouse kick Naruto but he jumped up just in time.
Sasuke threw a kick but it was blocked by Naruto's hands. Then Naruto grabbed Sasuke's leg, wrenched it and threw him to the ground.
Sasuke growled as he jumped up and tried punching Naruto but Naruto dodged and pressed a senbon against one of the pressure points near Sasuke's palm.
"Arrrrrrgh!" screamed Sasuke in bitter fury.
Naruto jumped back then activated his Sharingan.
"You do not know my true powers Sasuke. Because you are my precious comrade, I have not been fighting with you seriously but now knowing that your intent to kill me is true, I will face you sincerely."
Naruto's eyes shifted again and Sasuke's eyes widened in surprise. "Mangekyo Sharingan," he seethed.
Naruto looked at him wistfully. "Itachi was my friend, Sasuke. Believe me when I say that he loved you dearly. You want to kill me for power. For the Mangekyo Sharingan. For revenge. Sasuke, don't you see that you are blinded by power and that Orochimaru's just using your brokenness to control you?
Mangekyo Sharingan, the Uchiha's clan ultimate form of the Sharingan is only obtained through trauma or stress. You want to kill me so you can obtain the Mangekyo Sharingan so you can have eyes powerful enough to defeat Itachi, you need to be stronger than him but what's the point? Are you going to feel satisfied after Itachi's dead? Happy that your clan's avenged?"
"Shut up! What do you know about me! You grew up without any siblings or parents!" screamed Sasuke.
"Sasuke, I know your pain, I know how you feel," said Naruto coolly.
"You don't understand!" bellowed Sasuke.
He got a kunai from his pocket and charged at Naruto. Naruto sighed, sad that he had to put his friend through what he was about to do.
"I'm sorry Sasuke for doing this to you but the fight has to end now. Tsukuyomi!"
Sasuke dropped down to his knees. His hands clutched his head as he shrieked in agony. Naruto watched him pityingly as Sasuke watched his clan being murdered and murdered over and over again.
"Arghhhh! No, mum, dad, no! Itachi! NOOOOO! I'll kill you!"
After a few seconds in the real world, Sasuke's body fell limp. His hair receded, his Sharingan deactivated and his skin turned back into normal.
Naruto walked over to Sasuke, picked him up and sealed him in a scroll. Then he flickered back to the hospital in Konoha.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"What are the conditions of the retrieval team?" asked Naruto as he arrived.
A nurse came by and briefed him. "Nara Shikamaru and Rock Lee have minor injuries. Inuzuka Kiba has a deep wound but he is not in danger, however, Akimichi Choji and Hyuga Neji are critical conditions. Their situation is uncertain."
Just as he was about to flicker off to find Tsunade, she had just came into the room.
"Ah, Naruto, was the mission a success?" asked Tsunade. "I even called for some sand shinobi to help your struggling teammates. They told me that they didn't see you so I assume that you were chasing Sasuke?"
"Yeah, I was chasing after Sasuke. He's in my scroll but...sand shinobi? You don't mean..."
"Gaara, Kankuro and Temari? Yep, I sent them," replied Tsunade.
"Uhuh," said Naruto, not trusting himself to answer.
Then he unsealed Sasuke from his scroll.
"We need to filter his bloodstream," said Naruto. "Sasuke has eaten one of Orochimaru's cure pills. I've already given him minor treatment and drained out some of the toxins but I'm afraid some of his blood is already turning poisonous."
Tsunade's eyes widened. "We need to take him straight to the ER then!"
As soon as she said this, Sasuke's body spasmed and he threw up. The need to treat Sasuke was getting even dire.
Urgently, Naruto carried Sasuke and flickered over to ER, Tsunade following after him.
After an hour of tirelessly filtering Sasuke's blood with Tsunade and making sure that he was in a stable condition, Naruto decided to check up on Neji, Kiba, Choji, Lee and Shikamaru.
Neji and Choji had finally been healed to a stable condition. Shikamaru was up and about, Lee was still in bed resting as he had unwisely tired out his muscles before they were normal-functioning again and Kiba was being taken care of by his sister.
Naruto bumped into Shikamaru and Temari in the hospital hallway.
"Hey, Shikamaru, how's your first successful mission as a chunin? Especially as chunin mission leader?" grinned Naruto.
Shikamaru smirked at him. "It's great. Couldn't have done it without you."
Naruto smiled at him then turned to face Temari. "How's Gaara been?"
Temari gave Naruto a gentle and grateful smile. "He has been well...because of you...thank you Naruto."
"It's fine, dattebayo!" exclaimed Naruto. "Now, if you would excuse me, I have other business to attend to."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The next couple of days had been hectic for Tsunade. Not only had she got normal paperwork to do, but she also had to work extra shifts at the hospital. But that was not the worse thing.
The elders of the Konoha Council, Shimura Danzo, Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura had given her another problem to deal with: it was for the exile of the 'repulsive, manipulative demon-brat'.
Although Tsunade had not known Naruto for a long time, she was certain that Naruto shouldn't be exiled.
She had tried everything to persuade them of Naruto's innocence but Danzo, Koharu and Homura's minds were not to be changed.
Danzo, Koharu and Komura protested that he had injured the last Uchiha and shed his blood but Tsunade didn't want to hear it.
"He has injured the last Uchiha, don't you understand how much of a threat he can be, especially if he unleashed the fox?" pointed out Homura.
"Tsunade, do you not understand? This is for Konoha's good. The village would be much safer without the demon brat in it," specified Koharu.
"He needs to be banished. The Uchiha cannot die. He is the last of his kind," stated Danzo coolly.
Tsunade growled in anger and banged the table. "Would you please be quiet?!"
However, not everything could go Tsunade's way. By law, Senju Hashirama, Tsunade's grandfather, had said that all state matters would be debated civilly and the result will be decided through a vote. If it was a tie, the Hokage vote counted as two votes.
So Tsunade issued a vote on whether or not Naruto should be exiled. The civilian council wanted Naruto to be exiled while the shinobi council wanted him to stay. There were only three more votes...
It could go any way now...
Tsunade gasped in horror when she saw Danzo, Koharu and Homura vote for Naruto to be exiled. She had a feeling it would go this way but now it was official...Naruto was going to be exiled...
Later that evening, after Naruto had finished his dinner, he was summoned into the Hokage tower. When he saw Tsunade stare grimly at him, his smile disappeared.
"What's wrong, Tsunade-sama?" he asked politely, bowing.
Tsunade gulped. "By the council's orders...Naruto...you...are to be...exiled..."
When Naruto heard that he froze. Exiled? What had he done wrong?
"I'm sorry Naruto! I tried everything I could but they wouldn't listen! Then by law, we had to have a vote and it was 12 to 9. All of the clan heads, me and Shizune voted for your stay but the civilian council, Danzo, Koharu and Homura didn't. I'm so sorry Naruto, there's nothing I could do about it. By tomorrow night, if you set foot on the fire country, you will be executed. I'm so sorry Naruto!" cried Tsunade as tears streamed down her face.
Dan had left her. Nawaki had left her. Orochimaru had left her. Jiraiya had left her. Now Naruto was going to leave her.
Naruto didn't say anything. He stood rooted to the spot. At last, words came out of his mouth.
"I understand...I'll pack now...I'll leave tomorrow morning..."
Tsunade sobbed even harder. "I'm so sorry Naruto! Sorry..."
Naruto stared blankly at her then flickered away.
Naruto had spent the night packing and tidying the Uzukaze estate. All the things he wanted to bring, he sealed into his scroll.
His parents' journals, weapons, books, scrolls...
The remaining rest of the night was used for writing letters. He wrote a letter to every single person that he was close to in Konoha: Tsunade, Shizune, the rest of the rookies, the jonins in the shack which included Zabuza and Haku, Teuchi, Ayame, Konohamaru and his gang and Iruka.
"Don't worry Kit, you'll eventually have a place to go..." comforted Kurama.
Naruto couldn't say anything. He choked back tears.
Tomorrow morning came quickly and by then, the whole village had heard about Naruto's exile. There were lined up in crowds on each side of the path that led to the village gate.
The civilians mocked him and threw things at him, calling him names. Naruto didn't even bother dodging or repelling them. It had no meaning anymore...
He gave them their letters. They stared at him with sorrow, tears streaming out of their eyes. Naruto could only smile at them. A smile full of pain, full of suffering.
Sakura stared at Naruto as she cried silently. "Thank you, Naruto," she blubbered. "Thank you for everything...Thank you for bringing him back...I'm sorry...I'm so, so sorry..."
Naruto just shot her a pained smile. At last, there was only one letter...it was Sasuke's.
Sasuke was on crutches. Bandages were wrapped around his arms and legs as well as his face. He stared blankly at Naruto when Naruto gave him a letter.
"Go away from Prince Uchiha, you demon brat!" caterwauled one of the villagers.
"Get out of here, you monster!"
More and more things were thrown at him. Naruto's battle kimono was stained with food and his arms and legs were scratched.
He could see the Rookie 11's pained and blank faces. It hurt him beyond words.
One more step...
He was outside of Konoha...and the gates behind him closed.
The villagers erupted into jubilant cheers. Naruto started crying for the first time in years. He had been a faithful shinobi of Konoha yet he was stripped of his shinobi title and banished, just fulfilling to bring their 'precious last Uchiha' back.
How ironic it would be if they found out they had exiled the sole descendant of the great Uchiha Madara, son of the Yellow Flash.
The villages would have poured out their deepest but fake apologies just to have him back. After all, Sasuke was the last Uchiha, but Naruto was the last pure one.
But Naruto was sick of having to live a life of belittlement and abuse. Why were the villagers mocking him for holding the Kyuubi? If it wasn't for him, the Kyuubi would have gone on a rampage already and killed them all.
So for the second time, Naruto left Konoha. This time, he wasn't coming back.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Hey reader-chans! Back again with another update! And also left you on another cliffhanger. Ahaha, not guilty at all.
My update schedule will be a bit tight. Once every week on a Tuesday. The upcoming chapters will be a bit hectic. I'm also having a bit of writer's block so bear with me, please.
Comment and vote if you enjoyed! Thank you for getting my first fanfic up to 1k reads! Thank you for all the votes and reads and for the two people who commented, thank you guys especially! :)