Overcoming the Odds.

Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The Chase

Naruto watched the two as they dashed into the trees and fled into the forest.

He stood there stunned and disbelieving at their cowardice, but soon enough he gripped his kunai harder and growled in absolute frustration. After all the training he put himself into, all the nights he spent pondering this exact moment, and the promise he made to Sakura... After all the bullshit he endured to lead up to this moment, he was letting him escape and slip through his fingers?

"No, no way in hell." He thought on his last nerve. "I am not letting you go so easily."

He had his mind set and was just about to run after them, but suddenly two people landed behind him. He turned his head to see Kakashi and Sakura, along with the messenger toad he sent to notify them of Sasuke's appearance. They went up to him and their faces were visibly full of concern.

"What happened here? Are you okay?" Kakashi questioned him.

"Where is he?" Sakura asked.

The latter of the two questions greatly irritated him, but he decided to answer it anyway. "He ran away just now, if we hurry we can catch up to-"

"No." Kakashi butted in. "Let him go, we need to notify the Hokage of this immediately. Besides, you're injured."

Sakura looked at his bleeding injury in worry. "You're hurt badly," she said as she walked closer to him. He took a step back from her, and in a split second decision he turned around and ran into the direction Sasuke and Karin went.

Kakashi and Sakura yelled after him, but he was already gone inside the foliage of the forest. The messenger toad shook his head, then vanished in a poof of smoke.

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Enter Naruto Shippuden Ost - Hurricane Suite 2

Karin and Sasuke dashed from branch to branch while they made their way to a safer and far away place. The rogue shinobi had yet to say a word to her, and the blood that he kept spitting out of his mouth worried her to no end.

"Sasuke, let's stop so I can heal you." She said while they leaped to another tree branch.

He could stand his injuries, and he decided that getting away from his old team was much more important than relieving his pain. "We need to get away first," he replied emotionlessly.

Karin felt someone coming after them in the midst of their getaway. She recognized the chakra signature from before and knew it was the boy whom Sasuke battled with.

"Dammit!" She cursed under her breath. "Sasuke he's chasing after us!" She said in a panicked manner.

Sasuke looked at her and frowned in exasperation. "When will this damn fool quit?" He thought as he glanced behind his back. "Where is he?" He asked her. She told him his location, revealing he was directly behind them and hot on their trail. He slowed down his movements and lagged behind Karin purposely with the intentions of unleashing a monster of a jutsu on their pursuer. He leaped one last time and landed on a tree branch, then he turned around to face the direction Naruto was coming in. He made the necessary hand signs and inhaled deeply. "Great Fireball Jutsu." He said in his mind, then proceeded to exhale and unleash an immense sea of flames into the forest.

The flames spread wide and far, engulfing any and every tree that had the misfortune of being in its way. The now blazing forest creaked and groaned while Sasuke continued the jutsu, but eventually it ended and he was left standing there watching the flames. There was no possibility that Naruto had the reflexes to evade something so destructive and large.