Chapter Text
Prologue
Zetsu stood on the branch next to Tobi, speaking as Naruto and the rest of the team listened anxiously from below. "Sasuke collapsed a second later. He's fading fast."
"Yo, Aloe Vera!" Naruto had shouted up at the weird Akatsuki dude. "Where the fuck is Sasuke?"
But the two Akatsuki men left. "We have to get to them before they do." Kakashi said. They all agreed.
I can't screw this up, Naruto thought. Not this time. They moved out at top speed. Kakashi spotted something off to his left and asked Hinata to check it out. Her Byakugan showed her it was a dense cloud of black flames and strong chakra.
"That's it," Kakashi had said. "Follow me!"
Naruto lagged behind. He didn't want Yamato-sensei or Kakashi-sensei to stop him from doing what he was about to do. Even though he'd said he'd retrieve Sasuke with his own power, he couldn't limit himself to that now. That one with the swirly mask could move so fast…it was only ten miles, but he would get to Sasuke before Naruto and his team could unless he did this.
He just couldn't fail to bring Sasuke back another time. He was too close.
Kyuubi, he thought at the Bijuu he housed. Gimme what you got.
Kakashi and Yamato turned the second they'd felt that terrible chakra at their backs yet even as they swiveled their heads, Naruto was passing them in a blurred frenzy of demonic speed. Then he was gone, nearly halfway to the destination ten-miles away before everyone had fully comprehended what had happened. A deep groove as wide as Naruto's body led in a straight and smoking line in the direction he'd gone.
Yamato looked down at his palm and saw that five tails were released. "Oh no," he breathed.
"After him!" Kakashi shouted. No one needed telling twice.
-oOo-
His surroundings were a blur, his muscles moving fluidly, ears laid flat on his skull. His tails whipped the air, providing balance as he used every ounce of speed Kyuubi could give him in this state. He was painfully aware of how slow he was compared to that teleportation jutsu he'd seen; he judged that it took him one hundred and twenty seconds to cover the ten miles, give or take a few. Even so, he arrived to find the two Akatsuki members walking unhurriedly toward Sasuke and Itachi's bodies, talking quietly between themselves. They were confident that no one could move as quickly as they could. It was this arrogance that allowed Naruto to arrive in time.
Tobi turned his head at the sound of some 'thing' rushing toward him almost too fast for him to see. He realized what it was and rushed to Sasuke's side, already forming his time/space jutsu to get them both out of there.
Naruto saw the move, read the man's intention in plenty of time to shoot a dense ball of chakra at him from his mouth. Tobi was forced to save himself, disappearing and reappearing a hundred yards away. By then Naruto was crouched over Sasuke's body. Zetsu froze, watching from his place off to the side. Itachi was too close to the demon to risk trying to retrieve his body.
Tobi studied the Jinchuuriki's transformed state with great interest. He was tempted to capture him now, while he was out in the open and unaided. But he needed Sasuke. That took precedence. Ah, but the temptation…Tobi wavered, debating on whether or not he and Zetsu were enough to subdue the Kyuubi and still retrieve the brothers.
In the end his common sense won out. They would be forced to use everything they had just to take on the Kyuubi with five tails. If the beast released anymore than that they would fail. And now Tobi could sense the others drawing near quickly. He needed to get Sasuke and leave. He started forward.
Naruto had been cooking another chakra ball, bigger and denser than the last, as Tobi and Zetsu watched him. He let it loose now, putting as much force as he could behind it.
Tobi sought refuge in one of his dimensions in the nick of time, Zetsu sank into the ground. The landscape in front of Naruto was a scorched and blasted ruin. The rain sizzled off his chakra-coated body where he still stood crouched over Sasuke.
Kakashi and the others, still a mile away, recoiled at the shock wave as that destructive chakra erupted. They yelled, dropping to the ground as their cloaks rippled violently. The wave passed and Kakashi lifted his head, squinted into the distance. "He's fighting them," he told the group. "Hurry, we have to help him!"
Tobi materialized behind the Kyuubi, intending to lay his hand on any part of Sasuke he could reach and leave just as quickly. The demon looked over his shoulder and lashed all five tails at him. Tobi only barely managed to avoid that near catastrophe. Zetsu attempted to surface beneath the demon, but the creature hooked a claw in Sasuke's belt and flung him-
Tobi thought he'd gotten his chance at last and prepared to snatch him from the air.
But the demon had thrown Sasuke's body towards where he sensed the others arriving. A pair of wooden beams snaked into the air and caught Sasuke neatly, twining around his body. Tobi saw the way Sasuke was quickly reeled in and surrounded protectively by the Leaf ninjas.
So did Naruto.
He'd barely, just barely, managed to hold on to his own mind long enough to make sure he didn't hurt Sasuke as the bloodlust Kyuubi lived with took him over. Seeing that Sasuke was safe, he let go at last and it was a shameful, guilt-ridden relief.
Tobi didn't think he could get close enough to retrieve Sasuke without getting into a fight with all of them…still, maybe-
"Boss, watch out!"
Tobi whipped his head around in time to see the Kyuubi nearly on top of him. He started to part matter, enter his dimension-
-Kyuubi latched onto his arm just as it was disappearing into the void of his jutsu, the last part of him that was visible. The beast tore the appendage right off with a meaty ripping sound as Tobi closed the opening to the real world.
He howled in agony, alone in his alternate dimension, holding the stump of his arm as blood pulsed out of it.
Zetsu moved quickly, snatched Itachi's body when the demon's back was turned and leapt away. He couldn't use his Mayfly technique while carrying another, but he traveled as quickly as he was able to.
Kakashi held Sasuke on his back, everyone close around him, as they watched the scene some few hundred yards away. Even at that distance they could feel the awful weight of Naruto's chakra. He stood in the rain, holding Tobi's dripping arm and staring at the place in the air where the Akatsuki member had vanished.
"Naruto-kun," Hinata whimpered. Akamaru whined, crouched behind Kiba with his tail pressed firmly between his legs.
Kakashi was brought out of his mild daze. "Yosh, everyone. Naruto has done it, he's gotten Sasuke to safety. It's up to us now to make sure we get him back to Konoha. We'll travel in a tight formation. Kiba, Akamaru will carry Sasuke while we each take up a position around him. Nothing gets through us to him, is that understood? That masked character might come back. I don''t think the loss of an arm will stop him for long and he has Sharingan." Kakashi turned to his fellow Jounin. He put a hand on his shoulder. "Yamato, I'll leave you to take care of Naruto. I would stay and help, but only you can bring him back and we must make use of the opportunity he's given us. Once he's reverted, catch up to us. We need every hand available to guard Sasuke against another retrieval attempt."
Yamato nodded. His eyes were on Naruto as Kakashi and the others darted away.
-oOo-
They traveled nonstop. Yamato and a very exhausted, but nonetheless ecstatic, Naruto joined them a couple of hours after they left the place where Sasuke had slain his brother. Naruto ran at Akamaru's side, his eyes on Sasuke's strained face.
I did it, he thought tiredly. I kept my promise. I'm not letting anyone take you away, Sasuke. You're home now, with the people who care about you.
No one tried to stop them. They didn't relax their vigilance, arriving in Konoha in a cloud of dust as they sped directly towards ANBU headquarters where Sasuke would be the safest. The Hokage was notified of their success. She appeared at ANBU headquarters in record time. ANBU took over guarding Sasuke as he was placed in a holding cell. Sakura wept, saying that Sasuke-kun should be in the hospital where she could tend to his wounds.
Tsunade silenced her, admonishing her sharply to stop acting like a lovesick fool. "I will tend to his injuries myself," Tsunade said with feeling. "But he must remain in maximum security, for his own safety as well as ours."
Everyone had been standing around, looking in at the boy who'd caused the village no small amount of grief. They were dismissed after that, all free to seek first aid at the hospital or rest from their breakneck race to get Sasuke home before more Akatsuki members came after him. Naruto and the Chuunins left.
Kakashi and Yamato stayed. They watched Sasuke through the bars as Tsunade entered and began tending to his injuries. She paused at noticing the cursed seal was gone. Then she resumed, speaking thoughtfully.
"Amazing that you all were able to bring him back faced with powers like that Akatsuki member has."
"It was Naruto," Kakashi said quietly. "He risked his life to get to Sasuke in time and he did. You might want to take a look at him when you're done here, Fifth. He hides it well, but I know he's far from recovered. There was no time to apply medical assistance to him."
"He went to five tails," Yamato added. "The damage to his body-"
"I will see to him," Tsunade said shortly. "You both may leave as well. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."
In agreement, they bowed to her and left. Tsunade remained, ANBU at her back, healing Sasuke's injuries long into the night.
Chapter 1
Naruto spent a night in the hospital. Sakura came into the room after he was checked in and stood by the door staring at him with wide tearful eyes. He looked back wearily, a crooked grin on his face as he leaned back on the pillows. "Sakura-chan-"
She startled him badly when she suddenly screamed and threw herself on him.
"Aiii-t-t-t…Sakura-chan, that hurts!"
She didn't let go of him, squeezing him around his neck as he struggled to breathe. She whispered fiercely in his ear, her voice clogged with tears. "You did it, Naruto. You brought him back, just as you promised. Thank you. Thank you."
Face now scarlet, Naruto awkwardly patted her back. He realized with amazement that her breasts were pressing against his arm. It gave him a weird, jumpy feeling…he risked pulling her closer, but she was already pulling away. She wiped her face in embarrassment, uttering a shaky laugh. "Silly me," she said. "I'm so happy, but I'm crying all over you. Here, let me see to your wounds."
He let her tend to him as it finally hit him that Sasuke was home. For once, he hadn't messed up. It had cost him, but in the end it was worth it. Everything, all the training, all the pain…it had been worth it to be able to watch Sasuke's battered face as he ran beside Akamaru and know they were heading home together. He wondered what would happen next. Then he decided later could take care of itself. For now, the one he'd been chasing for years was back.
Sasuke was home.
Naruto closed his eyes and let himself drift off to sleep.