On the other side, still in the Land of Fire, Naruto and Sasuke were facing each other in the Valley of the End.
All his teammates were left behind, Naruto could only hope for the best for them, but instead, he focused on Sasuke in front of him.
Jugo didn't change Sasuke's seal because, after being seen by Hagoromo before, even obscured by the Tenebrous World, he wouldn't trust that if he left his own mark on Sasuke, Hagoromo wouldn't notice something.
Without reaching sequence 4, Jugo does not want to come into the sight of beings of the 6-path level. Therefore, he wasn't ready to upgrade Sasuke's seal like the others.
As soon as Sasuke woke up and felt his newfound power, he knew he had made the right choice. As for the consequences? Sorry, he doesn't care, only revenge matters to him.
At that point, Sasuke wouldn't stop, no matter what Kakashi, Naruto or Sakura said, he had tasted the poison, and it was sweet.
The destined battle unfolded as predicted, but not far from them, the Sound Four, who had been "defeated" earlier, were all watching, hidden in a tree. All the injuries they had suffered had healed long ago, only their clothes were still worn.
-Hey, how was your fight?- Kidomaro asked with a soft chuckle.
-Damn it, I don't want to have to do this again.- Sakon said irritably.
-Yes, pretending to get beaten up is very difficult.- Jirobo said lightly, his menacing look still present.
-That brat Nara was really annoying, I wish I could go back and cut him into little pieces.- Tayuya pouted, full of anger.
-Tayuya... - Jirobo began.
-Shut up, fatty!- Tayuya yelled, having no patience to listen to yet another annoying speech from Jirobo.
-My fight was actually quite fun, that Hyuga boy had some grit.- Kidomaro said lightly, with an amused smile on his face, but then sighed. -My spider queen died, I'll need to sign a contract with another one. Maybe Jugo-sama can help make her stronger with his cursed power.
-Who cares about your stupid spider! You weirdo!- Tayuya yelled at Kidomaro, still annoyed, but the man just smiled, already used to the woman's eccentric temperament.
-Oh... that punch must have hurt.- Sakon chuckled lightly as he watched Naruto punch Sasuke, sending him flying.
-Yes, that chakra is quite heavy, it must be the Kyubi. Konoha really lets its Jinchuriki roam freely, should we take him back?- Kidomaro chuckled softly.
The group fell silent for a moment, lost in thought, but in the end it was Tayuya who shook her head. -It's best not to, Jugo-sama doesn't want to attract too much attention.
The group nodded, but what they didn't know was that their leader was doing the exact opposite at that moment, his name would soon be spreading.
The fight continued and soon a figure appeared between them. None of them were frightened, like werewolves, their sense of smell was very keen and they had detected Kimimaro's scent from afar.
Kimimaro's clothes were slightly torn, but like them, he wasn't hurt at all. Gaara and Lee thought he had died, but he had only sunk into a well he had dug and managed to escape easily using Earth Style.
-What are you doing? Why aren't you taking Uchiha Sasuke to the village?- Kimimaro asked without showing emotion, but the group swallowed hard, they knew that even if they all attacked together, they would die.
-Sasuke said he had to finish this fight before he left.- Kidomaru finally replied.
Kimimaro watched the fight and sighed slightly, sitting down on the log. He didn't refuse, but observed calmly.
The group exchanged glances and then fell silent, waiting for the fight to end.
When Sasuke used the Chidori in its second stage of the curse, even the Sound Four felt cold, Naruto's Rasengan too. If either of them hit a vital area, they thought not even the werewolf's healing would help.
The explosion was deafening, when it was all over, Sasuke was standing, but Naruto was not.
They watched with cold eyes, thinking the boy would kill Naruto, but no, after staring at him with complicated eyes for a long time, Sasuke turned around and left.
He told himself he would never rely on Itachi's path to become stronger, but deep down, only he knew that this bond was too strong for him to erase, he couldn't kill Naruto. At least, the current Sasuke wouldn't be able to.
At some point, Naruto, the idiot, became his best friend.
Still, Sasuke didn't stay because of that, perhaps if the circumstances had been different, they could have grown together, trusting each other's backs.
But since the massacre of his clan, there was only one outcome for Sasuke: revenge or death trying.
Sasuke then stopped in front of the five, he looked at Kimimaro with narrowed eyes, he had seen him fighting against Naruto, seeing him with the Sound Four, he immediately classified him as an ally, for now.
-Let's go.- Kimimaro glanced at Sasuke briefly, then turned and started running away, the Sound Four following close behind.
Sasuke stood still for a moment longer, but he didn't turn around again, soon he sped away.
//-//
Jugo went to visit Karin as soon as he returned, he wanted to see how much the girl had progressed, in order to prepare himself to deal with Utakata.
Sure, Jugo could handle Utakata alone, but he wouldn't always be around, so he wanted a plan B. Besides, if Utakata refused to come, he would still turn him into a werewolf, at that point, he would come whether he wanted to or not.
Since he was already there, he asked Orochimaru something he hadn't yet found out, as Orochimaru was still studying the Uzumaki masks, trying to find the answer to opening the Shinigami's stomach.
The masks and some secret files had arrived today, and some ninjas were sent to the Land of Whirlpools to retrieve them, so the man was very excited at the prospect of getting his arms back.
Jugo was interested in various Jutsus and Orochimaru possessed many of them, even some of Jiraiya's Jutsus. However, he lacked what he truly desired: Byakugou no In, the Seal of a Hundred Strengths.
He had a ton of chakra, but he was still far from being comparable to a Bijuu like Kurama, but what if he had a way to store chakra? With his recovery speed, he could replenish what Tsunade could gather in a year in a single day.
Unfortunately...
-That jutsu wasn't in the sealing files, it was passed directly from Mito to Tsunade.- Orochimaru shrugged.
Jugo looked at Karin, who was staring at him with a silly look and rolled his eyes. The girl was only 13 years old, but she was already thinking about this kind of thing. He was thinking it would be a good Jutsu for her, in fact, Karin's chakra control was also very good. If she weren't focused on sealing techniques, she could learn medical jutsu.
She would be an even better disciple for Tsunade, especially now that she has Jugo's seal and can create multiple clones to help with learning.
She even used it frequently to learn sealing techniques, but unfortunately she didn't have Jugo's mental stamina, so she couldn't maintain it for very long.
Karin saw him looking at her and blushed, looking away. Orochimaru, standing beside her, licked his tongue, observing the situation with interest.
Jugo felt a shiver and turned to Orochimaru, feeling his eyes and looking at that tongue sticking out, the shiver intensified even further.
He forced himself not to punch the man and sighed, he had been planning to go to Ryuuchi Cave, but Madara's body was more important.
-I'm going out for a bit, I'll be right back.- Jugo said, before his body vanished into thin air.
Guren and Suigetsu, who were hiding in the shadows, wanted to groan aloud, they were supposed to be guards, but Jugo always managed to escape in ways they had no idea where he went.
They managed to leave the room and do what Jugo had ordered, but first they had to wait for Kimimaro to return, only then could they go after the Six-Tails. Guren didn't mind, but Suigetsu felt underestimated, he could handle the Six-Tails alone!