Naruto:A New Path

Failed Plans

Shikamaru watched Red Death fight his teammates in the distance, Temari standing next to him with a frown on her face. The lazy Chunin was growing agitated, there was no sign of Naruto or Sasuke entering the fight. He guessed that they would have intervened by now but there was no sign of them.
"Where the hell are they?" Temari growled with worry on her eyes.
Shikamaru sighed. "Don't worry much about it-"
The two ninja suddenly jumped away from where they stood, dodging a set of kunai in the process. The two turned around to see a man with long black hair, a goatee on his face, wearing samurai-like armor.
"I don't get why you ninja's use tools like this," the mercenary began, twirling a kunai on his left hand, "They're easy to dodge and you can tell when their coming. You ninja aren't that stealthy, are you?"
Shikamaru studied the man, wondering why he was after them. Meanwhile Temari took out her fan and gripped it tightly on her hands. "Why are you here anyway?" the lazy Chunin asked with a frown on his face, "By the way you talk and dress yourself, I'd say you're a mercenary."
The man smirked. "Not bad kid. You're sharper than you look, but…" the mercenary reached for his back and pulled out a sword, pointing it at the two ninja, "But, it won't save you. I won't show mercy just because you're kids."

Shikamaru studied the man with a careful eye, he held the sword with two hands in front of his body. It looked like a pretty standard and relaxed stance but the Chunin knew better. The mercenary clearly knew what he was doing and wouldn't let himself open without a reason, unless he planned on tricking them.
"Temari…" he muttered with his gaze on the mercenary. The blonde Sand ninja turned to the shadow-user with a frown, "Don't attack him head on, he's expecting that."
Temari's frown deepened. "Then what am I supposed to do," she muttered back, "We can't just stand here or he'll find an opening."
Shikamaru's eyes narrowed as he watched the mercenary shift his feet, he was about to attack. "It'll be a pain but I'll create an opening," he turned to the Sand ninja and gave her a firm nod, "Make sure to get him or else my work will go to waste, and that would suck."
The mercenary watched the two ninja talk amongst themselves with a smirk on his face, he found it amusing to watch since they thought that they could actually beat him. Traveling the world had made him strong and he would show it to them.
A sudden explosion rocked the area. The mercenary frowned while the two ninja turned to look at a large cloud of smoke in worry. His eyes narrowed, he didn't' have much time. If he was to do his job then he would need to kill the ninja when they were alone, taking more than two opponents, ninja nonetheless, would only make things difficult.
His eyes scanned the ninja and found them to be slightly distracted. An opening. Not waiting another second, he charged at the two ninja with his sword on his side. The black-haired ninja quickly faced him and threw a couple of shuriken. The man scoffed and swung his sword, sending the incoming projectiles away.
Shikamaru threw more shuriken at the man. He watched as the mercenary prepared to knock them away, making him smirk. Next to him Temari swung her fan and created a stream of wind that changed the speed of the shuriken.
"Dammit," the mercenary growled as he was forced to throw himself on the ground, effectively dodging the projectiles. He jumped back to his feet just in time to dodge a kunai, he glared at his opponents but heard the distinct sound of burning paper. With wide-eyes he looked down to see the kunai bearing an explosive tag on its handle, "Shit!"
The mercenary jumped away from the area but not fast enough to avoid the impact. The man was blown away before landing hard on the sand, kicking up a small cloud of sand. He quickly rose to his feet and swung the sword horizontally, earning a loud 'clang.' In front of him stood Temari with her fan interlocked with his sword, she had used the sand cloud as a diversion while she attacked head on, a wise move in the mercenary's opinion.
The man smirked, Temari used both hands to hold her fan and that left her wide open. The Sand ninja's eyes widened before a grunt escaper her lips, the man had used his other hand to punch the kunoichi on her stomach. Her grip on the fan loosened, giving the man one more opening, he applied more pressure on the intertwined weapons and managed to knock the fan away.
Temari was left wide open with no source of defense. The mercenary lifted his sword before bringing it down on the kunoichi with a smirk on his face, this would be his first kill of the day. "What the?" he exclaimed when the sword stopped only centimeters away from the girl's skull. His eyes darted around the area to the Leaf Chunin holding his hands on a hand sign with a large shadow stretching from his feet towards him.
"My turn," Temari muttered before kicking the man in the stomach as hard as she could. The man emitted a low grunt before being launched away from the girl by a hard chakra-enhanced punch. He crashed against the sand with a cry of pain, kicking up a small cloud of sand.
"You idiot!" Shikamaru exclaimed with a little sweat on his forehead. He glared at Temari with his arms on his sides, "You weren't supposed to hit him. I already had him under my jutsu! Now we have to get him again."
Temari scowled and held her fan to the side with a cocky grin. "Then we just do it again," she responded. She watched as the mercenary stood back up a little shakily, "I have a feeling it won't be too hard anyway."
The mercenary glared at the two ninja. They were a lot stronger than he originally thought. It wasn't always that he was left in this state but then again, his encounters with ninja weren't many. If he wanted to kill them then he would need to get serious and use all of his abilities.
"Let's see if you can handle this," the mercenary began as he took of his shin and arm guards. The accessories hit against the sand loudly and making small craters. The man stretched his arms with a loud sigh, throwing a confident smirk at the two ninja, "You're dead."
Red Death smirked under her mask. A shot of sand moved towards her but she easily jumped over it. By the look of concentration on the redheaded kid, his sand was still in pursuit though it wouldn't catch her. Turning her head to the side she saw the sand still chasing after her, much to her amusement, such attacks wouldn't be able to even scratch her.
She dropped to the ground and swung her scythe, creating a powerful blast of wind that struck the sand, dispersing it on contact and leaving nothing but a light breeze. Red Dearth stared blankly at the two ninja, wanting to see what else they had up their sleeves. If there was one thing that she enjoyed it was testing her opponents, not one person in the world had the same abilities and it was always fun to see how different everyone was. Controlling sand was rare and she wanted to see more of it, unlike the other kid who controlled puppets since they were common on the Sand village.
Red Death twirled the scythe on her right hand, creating a light breeze. She wanted to show that she wasn't serious on this fight, maybe then they'll go all out since it was clear that they weren't using their best abilities. Another shot of sand launched towards her, much to her disappointment, however this time she merely brought the scythe down on the ground and created a wall of earth. The sand crashed against the wall before falling limply on the sand.
"Fools," she muttered as she brought the wall down. Upon bringing it down, a puppet shot towards her with blades on its hands, making her utter a short gasp before jumping away. She landed on the sand without much trouble until the sand beneath her gave away, she tumbled down before walls of sand surrounded the area around her in a large orb, "Interesting."
Gaara concentrated on his attack, controlling such a large amount of sand took a great toll on his chakra reserves but it was a necessity when fighting someone so strong. "Sand Coffin…" he muttered as the walls of sand compressed on Red Death, "It's over."
Kankuro found himself sighing in relief. "That was good Gaara," the puppet-user wondered why the attack didn't seem as intimidating as before. Back when his brother had isolated himself from everyone the same attack would make him shutter in fear but now it seemed natural, almost something artistic.
"Did you think you had me?" a familiar voice came behind the two ninja. They quickly turned around to see Red Death standing before them with the scythe slung over her right shoulder. Kankuro was completely thrown off, never before had someone escaped his brother's Sand Coffin, it seemed almost unnatural. He spared a glance at Gaara to see him snarl at the enemy ninja with something he had never seen on his brother's eyes before. The puppet-user trembled slightly, it was rare for his brother to show how he felt and seeing him act so, dare he say, afraid, showed that they were in a really bad situation.
Red Death tightened the grip on her scythe before stabbing it into the ground, letting it stand there as she crossed her arms. "I find you two to be a little interesting," Kankuro gritted his teeth while Gaara's eyes narrowed on her, "That's why I'll play with you for a little while longer. I couldn't care less about puppets but controlling sand with such precision is something I've never seen before. Be glad that I don't plan on killing you soon."
"So you're only using us to entertain yourself?" Kankuro clenched his fists and threw her a glare, "We're shinobi of the Sand, we are not to be taken lightly!"
"Relax brat, I also require some bait," Red Death responded calmly, "I need you if I am to get Naruto back."
Gaara's eye hardened on the ninja. "What do you want with him?" the puppet-user looked at his brother with a look of confusion. The redhead appeared to be agitated and angry before he spoke once more, "I suppose it doesn't matter. If you want something with him then you'll have to answer to me."
"Well then…" Red Death began as she took hold of her scythe once more. Lighting gathered around the blade as she began to twirl it on her hand, "I guess I have to show you the gap between our powers sooner than I thought."
Naruto and Sasuke watched the ninja from a safe distance. The two Team 7 members were to enter the fight when they saw fit. Getting a surprise attack on Red Death would be crucial for their plan and they had to time it just right.
Sasuke suddenly broke into a run, making Naruto gasp in surprise. The Uchiha took a kunai in hand, wanting to finish the fight as soon as possible. His eyes widened when Naruto suddenly appeared before him with a frown on his face.
"What are you doing Naruto?" Sasuke growled with a glare.
Naruto's eyes narrowed on his teammate. "We can't interfere just yet. If we go in there now then the plan will go to waste," he explained, "Let's just wait a few more minutes."
"We don't have a few more minutes," he argued with his glare still on place, "If everything goes according to plan we won't get to truly test ourselves, do you want that Naruto?"
Naruto clenched his fists. "Look, Sasuke. I don't remember anyone asking for your opinion so just listen," the Chunin countered, "It's not about testing ourselves, it's about taking down Red Death. You can't order us around, so learn your place on this mission, Genin."
Sasuke glared as the Chunin approached him, with his eyes narrowed. 'I'm not beneath you, loser' the Uchiha growled in his head, 'I'll show you where I stand!'. Naruto shot him one last look before beginning to move past him.
Everything happened in a flash. Naruto suddenly got the wind knocked out of him by Sasuke's punch before the Uchiha kicked him away. The blond landed on the sand, rolling with the punch and getting on his feet, creating a clone as soon as he got back up. The clone took hold of Naruto's arms before launching him at Sasuke. The Uchiha could do nothing but watch as the Chunin's right fist met his face rather painfully.
Blood escaped Sasuke's mouth as he jumped away from the blond. He nursed his jaw, glaring at Naruto with his left fist clenched. The two glared at each other and slipped into their taijutsu stances. The Uchiha saw this as an opportunity to put Naruto on his place while the blond knew that Sasuke wouldn't stop without a fight.
With the sound on an explosion in the distance, the two ran at each other. Their plan put on great jeopardy.
Sasuke quickly took out a kunai and flung it at the blond. The Chunin raised his right hand and poured chakra onto it, summoning Asuma's blade and knocking the projectile away. He watched as Sasuke took out another kunai and brought it forward, he did the same and the two met with a loud 'clang.'
Naruto glared at Sasuke, his teeth grinding in anger. "Let's stop this before it gets out of hand Sasuke," he suggested in a firm tone. Fighting his own comrade in the middle of a mission was out of the question, he wanted to avoid fighting the Uchiha at all costs, "We can just forget this happened."
"Are you out of your mind," Sasuke countered in anger, his eyes burning into Naruto's. His eyes began to change into a deep red, two tomoes on each eye, "I'll prove that I am stronger than you."
Sasuke's eyes burned in rage as he applied more pressure against the blond, making him wince under the hold. Naruto was pushed back by the force of the hold, the Uchiha was clearly not going to hold back, if that was the case then neither would he.
Wind chakra poured onto the Chunin's blade, sharpening it and cutting into the kunai, much to Sasuke's shock. The blond broke the kunai in two before kicking the avenger on the stomach. The Uchiha doubled over in pain before receiving a hard kick to the face. His head snapped to the side, making him cry in pain as he fell on the sand. As he fell he rolled with the momentum and stood back up with a hardened glare, the loser wouldn't beat him.
"That's enough Sasuke!" Naruto pleaded in desperation. He didn't want to hurt his friend, it had been his promise not to allow anyone of them to get hurt. Staring at one of his firsts friends willing to attack him was not something he had wanted under any circumstances.
Sasuke closed his eyes and took a deep breath to pull himself together. "Nobody's going to stop our fight, don't you get it?" he opened his eyes and smirked, "This was always meant to happen Naruto. You called me your rival once. Well then…" The Uchiha ran through hand signs before putting a hand in front of his mouth, "Let's see if you have what it takes to be my rival!"
Fire shot out of Sasuke's mouth, shooting ferociously through the air. Naruto's eyes narrowed as he ran through hand signs and put a hand in front of his mouth. Wind shot out of his mouth and met with the fireball in a big explosion that shot sand everywhere. The sound of chirping suddenly pierced the area, small blue sparks breaking out of the sand.
' It can't be!' Naruto screamed on his head before feeling something pierce his stomach. He looked down to see Sasuke's lighting filled hand pulling out of his stomach. A surprised gasp escaped his lips before he burst in a cloud of smoke.
' A clone!" Sasuke turned around, scanning the area for any sign of his teammate, 'When the hell did he have time to make a clone? There's no way he could have reacted so quickly.' A sudden flare of chakra caught his attention, he quickly looked down before jumping away. He saw Naruto erupt from the sand with his left hand extended.
The two ninja landed on the sand, both with light pants, and focused expressions. By the looks of things they were about equal when it came to power. It seemed that the fight would be decided by their stamina which wasn't favorable to Sasuke. As much as he hated to admit it Naruto would surely win if it came to stamina, Kakashi himself had once said that the dead last had had more chakra than most Jonin. If he was to win then he would need to kick it up a notch.
Naruto stared at his friend in disbelief. He had just used the Chidori, possibly his strongest attack. 'He tried to kill me,'
his right hand clenched on his blade. He scanned the Uchiha and raised a brow when he saw black markings on the left side of his neck, 'The Cursed Seal.'
-Flashback-
"The Cursed Seal…?" Naruto repeated with his head cocked to the side.
Jiraiya rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Yes for the hundredth time Naruto," he sighed out, "The Cursed Seal."
It had been a normal morning for Naruto, the sun peeked out of his window, the sound of chirping birds graced his ears and the smell of dirty laundry filled the area. He sat in bed with a tired expression on his face, he still felt a little tired. The meeting with the Hokage the previous night had been scheduled way too late, so late in fact that it had been around midnight when he made it home.
'I have a mission today,' he recalled as he stood up and walked out his room. Today he would be going to some one of Sound's bases with Ino, Neji and Choji. He inwardly smiled when he remembered the bet he had had with Ino, she would be mad when she saw him.
"Good morning!" came the cheery voice of Jiraiya as soon as the blond stepped into his living room.
"Good morning Jiraiya-sensei," Naruto greeted with a nod as he moved to the kitchen. His eyes suddenly widened and he turned to the couch to see Jiraiya sitting there as if he owned the place, "What the hell are you doing here?"
Jiraiya chuckled, it seemed that his new apprentice wasn't a morning person. "I heard you had a mission today so I thought I would give you some last minute advice," he stated with his arms crossed. The look of seriousness he held made the blond keep quiet, "Since you're going to a Sound base then you need to know about the Cursed Seal."
"The Cursed Seal?"
"What is that Jiraiya-sensei?" Naruto asked with furrowed brows.
Jiraiya put crossed his arms and sighed loudly, closing his eyes in concentration before clearing his throat. "The Cursed Seal is one of the things that make Orochimaru dangerous," he frowned and pointed at his apprentice, "You actually have been close to one this whole time. That Uchiha teammate of you was given a Curse Seal by Orochimaru."
Naruto's eyes widened in disbelief, why hasn't anyone told him yet? "When did that happen?" his fists clenched as a growl escaped his lips, "That Orochimaru bastard is going to pay for that."
"Don't even think about getting close to Orochimaru!" Jiraiya snapped with a hardened look on his face. Naruto flinched under the tone of his master, he'd never heard him talk like that before, "You're nowhere near his level and believe me when I say that he can kill you before you get the chance to use a single jutsu. Last time he was only toying with you but I can assure you that it won't happen again."
Naruto looked down with a scowl on his face. If he couldn't fight Orochimaru then he should think of a way to get rid of the seal. "What does the Curse Seal do?" he turned to his master with a serious look on his face, "Is there any way to get rid of it?"
"The Curse Seal is a seal made for the sole purpose of giving Orochimaru's ninja a power boost. By what I've seen so far it also causes the person to slowly lose rational thought and become more violent. It could be a side-effect but, knowing Orochimaru, he probably made it that way," he explained, "Every time a person taps into their Curse Seal they lose more of themselves. The power that is gained comes directly from Orochimaru, meaning that they're able to gain even more if he sees fit. As of now there is no way to get rid of the new versions of the seal but I'm working on it."
Naruto nodded, knowing that he could only trust in his master. Jiraiya chuckled and crossed his arms, throwing the blond a cocky grin. "Didn't you have a mission to go to? You're not going to become another Kakashi, are you?" he teased. The Chunin's eyes widened before he ran back to his room, gathering all of his things.
"Gotta go Jiraiya-sensei!" he exclaimed as he jumped out the window, now fully clothed, "Don't worry! I won't do anything stupid!"
Jiraiya chuckled and watched his apprentice leave. He had actually used Shadow Clones to help him get ready, it was pretty smart when he thought about it.
-End Flashback-
"So that's it, huh?" Naruto muttered with a sad smile on his face. His friend was being influenced by the Cursed Seal. There was no choice but to stop him before he lost himself to the power. Dark blue chakra swirled around the blond, enveloping him in a comfortable warmth before a crimson red mixed with it, making his skin burn slightly, "I have only used this once since I always used the watered down version, but I can't let you use the Curse Seal for too long."
Sasuke smirked as the markings on his neck scattered all throughout his face, deep purple chakra flaring around him. "You're no match for me dead last, I'll show you," he dropped into his taijutsu stance, staring down at the blond.
Naruto's eyes turned a deeper shade of blue with black slits. There was no use for words, he had to end it all before it was too late. His friends were still fighting Mayu and they needed his help. The chakra flared violently around him, his eyes glaring into Sasuke, "Let's end this Sasuke!"
Sweat trailed down Shikamaru's face, the mercenary had been wearing weights the whole time and now that they were off he was a lot more dangerous. The man was even close to Lee's speed. It made the Nara wonder why the world liked to give him too much trouble. He threw a glance at Temari to see her panting slightly, it seemed she was having trouble as well.
The mercenary stood in front of the two with a smirk on his face. Not one to wait, he ran at the two with his sword on hand, he would end this before anyone else arrived. Temari saw him charge in and used her fan to throw a powerful wind at the man. He saw this and jumped high in the air before spinning in place and diving towards the two.
Shikamaru threw a couple of kunai but they were easily deflected by the man's sword. "Follow me," the Nara muttered as he jumped away from the area. Temari jumped after the shadow-user, knowing that he had some kind of plan. The lazy Chunin flipped in the air and threw a couple more kunai but this time at the area where he had once stood.
"Dammit," the mercenary cursed when he saw two exploding tags waiting for him on the sand. As soon as he neared the sand he stabbed his sword into it and, using it as leverage, he gripped the hilt before throwing himself away from the explosives.
The kunais exploded in a large cloud of smoke, throwing sand throughout the area. "What now?" Temari suddenly asked with a frown on her face.
"This was only meant to be a diversion," Shikamaru explained, "When I say so I want you to use your wind chakra on the sand. I have a plan, so you need to keep him busy for as long as you can."
Temari smirked. "Leave it to me," she gripped her fan and swung it, creating a powerful gust of wind that cleared the sand. The mercenary stood before them with a frown on his face, part of his attire was burnt off as was part of his right arm.
"You damned brats will pay for this," the mercenary growled.
"Damn…" Shikamaru muttered with a weary smile on his face. It had been a pain in the ass mission after all. He couldn't wait to get home and rest, this was way too much for a fresh Chunin, "How troublesome."