The Power to Heal and Destroy by Phoenixsun

Chapter 28: Kaleidoscopic Bond

Naruto pushed his body to move as fast as it could. With each branch he jumped off of, the blond tried desperately not to think about what he had to leave behind, about his severely injured friends, about the insanely powerful shinobi from Sound, or about the gigantic explosion he had felt a while back. All that genin could allow himself to focus on was catching up with the blue haired teen and save Sasuke; otherwise all that he and his friends had gone throughout would be rendered meaningless.

"I swear... After I bring him home I'm going to beat Sasuke within an inch of his life..." Naruto said to himself between jumps in order to keep his mind off more unpleasant matters. "Or better yet... I will just let him face the wrath of the village girls... While I just sit back and enjoy the show..." He added.

Focusing back on the chase, the Sharingan user had forgotten how long he had been running after Ukon for quite some time. The silent threat issued by Kimimaro had seemingly done its job as it lit a powerful fire under the blue haired shinobi. Despite being severely injured by Shikamaru's trap, the Sound nin had been running at top speed since the very start and not giving any signs of slowing down, making it incredibly difficult for Naruto to catch up.

Finally, after what had to be at least several hours of chasing, Naruto was able to make up Ukon's and the wood container's figures in the distance. "You bastard... I got you now." The spiky haired teen said to himself, managing to muster a bit more speed thanks to the elation at the sight of his target.

Sensing a power spike behind him, Ukon looked over his shoulder. The Oto nin's eyes widened in shock when he saw the blond right on his tail. "How... How did you get pass Kimimaro?!" The young man exclaimed in surprise and bewilderment, but, to his credit, did not slow down.

Little by little, Naruto started to reduce the distance between him and the Sound ninja. Just a bit more and he could bring this whole crazy mission to an end.

Ukon started to panic. The spiky haired boy was going to catch up to him at any minute and even if he dropped the Uchiha and made a run for it, it would not be long before Kimimaro or Orochimaru himself found him. Suddenly the sight of a river appeared in front of the blue haired teen filling him with hope. "I'm almost at the border." The Oto nin whispered to himself. "If I can just make it down the waterfall it'll be a straight shot right out of this hell hole!" He said feeling a bit of energy returning to his body.

Quickly closing the distance, Ukon jumped off the waterfall's edge and for a second, he could already picture himself reaching Orochimaru's hide out. The next second, however, the wooden container exploded and large dragon mouth made out of electricity engulfed the blue haired teen completely.

By the time Ukon's body finally landed on the ground, it never moved again.

"Sasuke!" Naruto shouted when he watched the explosion and the Raiton jutsu disappear over the edge. Reaching the waterfall, the blond jumped into one of the two statues and glanced down, his eyes widening in surprised by what greeted them.

At the foot of the waterfall, a strange figure was panting. The creature had dark skin and long, messy dark gray hair. Then, slowly, the skin begun to clear up and the hair to recede, and gradually that figure started to resemble Sasuke once again.

"What the hell..." Naruto whispered to himself before shaking off his bewilderment. "Sasuke are you alright?!" He called out.

The Uchiha was glancing down at his own body trying to make sense of what had just happened. It had been like his first experience with the Cursed Seal back in the forest of death, only about one thousand times stronger. He had felt incredibly powerful and eager to take on the world once again; the only difference then and now, though, was that the raven haired teen knew better this time. His teammate's voice snapped the genin out of his thoughts. "I... I think I am..." He responded.