The Third Hatake: A Naruto Fanfiction

Chapter 39: Comparison

Sasuke watched as Naruto sat upon the tree branch, his elbow propped on his knee as he rested his cheek on his closed fist, gazing down at the village that was at the bottom of the mountain. This was his childhood best friend, who has just recently remembered who he was after leading a different life and had to watch his own daughter die, it was bizarre, to say the least. 

"Naruto," Sasuke began, thinking of his words carefully seeing as how Naruto was a little bit unstable at the moment. "What are we doing?" Naruto closed his one eye and sighed before standing up. 

"Don't worry about it. Just listen to me." Sasuke felt his eyes narrow instinctively, anger bubbling in his stomach. 

"Now wait a-" He began shouting before he found a hand grasp his mouth tightly, shutting any argument he could've made up in an instant. Naruto's single Sharingan was peering into Sasuke's eyes as he held Sasuke up in the air as the teen began trying to pry his hand off of him. 

"Listen here and listen well, Sasuke. The only reason you are still alive is that you questioned Shisui's methods when he took ahold of Ellie, meaning you still have hope and that plague you call a clan hasn't completely sunken their claws into you deep enough yet, and you were my friend. But as you can see I'm not the same, and I will not hesitate to change my mind." He let go of Sasuke and turned around, his eye once again on the village. 

Sasuke fell to the ground, coughing a little bit as he tried to stand up straight, his eyes drifting to Naruto who was only a few feet in front of him. What the hell was that? That feeling that he was about to die at any given moment? That he was spared on a whim? What the hell was that? 

"Akatsuki, an organization your foolish older brother has taken control of rather easily." Naruto began speaking as he walked forward, motioning Sasuke to follow him. "Their mission is to hunt down the Jinchuuriki and extract the Bijuu that resides within them. This is probably just a ruse to get the Shinobi Nations to work together in order to stop the S-Rank Group, but it'll fail." 

"And this is relevant why?" Sasuke asked. 

"You're asking the right questions now," Naruto said, though his tone was indifferent as it has been the entire time. "At this moment, two powerful chakra signatures are in that village. One of them is undoubtfully from Mist, and for some reason, one is from Konoha, meaning that Itachi is there as well." Naruto turned his head, his Sharingan glowing in the dark of night. 

"Tell me Sasuke, ready for a family reunion?" 

Naruto walked down the village roadway, his eye seemed glazed over as he seemed unconsciously drawn towards a certain part of the small village, not even bothering to stop himself from bumping into people, drawing attention and angry looks from the villagers. 

Sasuke, who was trailing behind Naruto nervously was sending apologetic glances to those Naruto bumped into, rubbing his neck as he felt his annoyance spark up at the grey-haired teen. This wasn't the same Naruto he knew all those years back. This wasn't the same Naruto who would tolerate him over the rest of their peers, nor the Naruto who fought against Zabuza or saved the village against a transformed Shukaku. 

This wasn't even the Naruto who slaughtered men, women, and children without hesitation. Not the Naruto that killed almost an entire legion of underground Anbu Black Ops, including one of the Leaf's Elders, Danzo Shimura.

This was a different Naruto, a Naruto that Sasuke didn't know, and when Sasuke didn't know something, it unnerved him. 

This was a mysterious Naruto, to say the least.