THE BATTLE OF ACCEPTANCE

CHAPTER 1

FINDING

It was quiet. The sun was just now peeking over the horizon, the birds just awoken and now singing as they flew around, stretching their wings, and as always a determined young blond was standing in the office of the Hokage.

Tsunade turned in her seat to face him. Her aid, Shizune and her pig, had quietly left so as not to get involved. The blond narrowed his blue eyes and eyebrows in determination.

"Naruto."

"Baa-chan."

They greeted each other.

"Naruto, you are here once every week, you know my answer, you know what I think. What more can I do for you?"

Naruto calmed down a bit and looked out the window almost in a daze.

"I have no training today, no missions either. So I'm leaving."

Tsunade frowned.

"Where?"

Naruto smiled. "I'm going to travel to some villages and see if they have any information for me and who knows maybe I'll finally find him. Maybe today God will finally answer my prayers"

"Sasuke is a rough ninja, an exiled ninja. Bring him here and I…"

"Then maybe I won't."

Tsunade sat back in her chair. Up till now their conversations involving Sasuke have been the same but this is a change that she doesn't like. She had a bad feeling.

"If I bring him here you will lock him up and have a court date with the other Hokage to determine his sentence. You think he may have to spend some time in jail or he will get the death sentence. They won't consider house arrest or, considering he did kill some of Konoha's greatest enemies, get of with a warning."

"I don't truly know what will happen, Naruto, I…"

"So I made up my mind."

Tsunade's eyes widened as Naruto picked up the backpack that had been sitting on the floor behind him.

"Naruto, think about this!"

"You know if you send someone after me they don't stand a chance now that I have all Kyuubi's powers. Just let me be. This is how it should be. He and I were meant to be together even if it means in exile."

Tsunade stood up to protest but Naruto was gone.

"IF YOU DON'T RETURN BY TOMMAROW NIGHT I HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO LABLE YOU A ROUGE!" She shouted knowing he could hear her still.

Naruto had left notes for Sakura, Sai, and Kakashi. As he passed the gates he stopped and looked back before turning and continuing on his journey.

...

Sweat dripped down his pale face, his raven hair soaked in it, taking each breath was becoming painful, and his chest heaved as he ran, jumped, and tried to remain quiet all at once. His pursuer was none other than Tobi also known as Madara Uchiha.

That's right…Sasuke Uchiha was finally running from the terrible things Tobi had set out for him to do. Manipulating him to get what HE wanted in the end.

All the lonliness, the bitterness, the lack of friendship, and a team that ACTUALLY cares finally got to him. Sasuke didn't want this! Itachi was dead and he knew that what Tobi wanted was NOT what his brother would want for him.

It took him a long time of stupid mistakes, hurtful words being said, running away, and having his mind set on revenge but the death of his brother did it.

Itachi would not want him to pursue the path he was on.

He needed to find Naruto but he was injured. Probably a broken arm, maybe even a few ribs, several deep cuts bleeding profusely, and he would defiantly be in pain from pushing himself as hard as he was.

Luckily it was only Tobi coming after him. His team had disbanded and did not care.

Darting his dark eyes back and forth for a hiding spot, Sasuke finally spotted a dark cave slightly hidden behind a waterfall. It was near Konoha too.

He quickly cloned himself and as he hid within the cave the clone continued in the direction he had been going to fool Tobi.

Once he saw Tobi fly by Sasuke went deep inside the cave and searched for a dry spot where he could start a fire and rest.

Gathering some twigs from nearby he started a small fire and unrolled the sleeping bag he had been carrying. After washing off and wrapping his wounds and creating a makeshift sling for his broken arm, Sasuke curled up into the sleeping bag and fell asleep.

...

Naruto groaned and slapped a hand to his forehead as he plopped down against a nearby tree. He had already ventured through 3 villages with no luck. Maybe he should just use his clone jutsu and speed up the search. He was about 7 miles away from the last village he checked and about 3 miles from Konoha.

It was late and the sun was setting. Pushing aside all 3 failures to find Sasuke, Naruto gathered his HUGE backpack and crawled into a nearby cave making sure he and his overly large backpack didn't get wet from the waterfall that fell rather close to the cave.

Suddenly Naruto caught a whiff of smoke. He followed it all the way to the back of the cave where a small fire burned.

"Ummm. Excuse me, do you mind if I camp out here…with you? It will only be for the night and I'll be gone in the morning!"

Naruto waited for a response but after receiving none he plopped his stuff down and scoped out the place.

It was a simple small, dry, area deep in the cave.

Bored Naruto slipped off his jacket leaving him in only his orange sweatpants and a blank tank top. Not caring if he got too wet he thrust his head into the waterfall soaking his face, hair, and neck instantly. Water trickled down his back as he pulled his head out. Shaking his head vigorously he managed to get some water out of his hair leaving it damp.

Sitting down in front of the fire, Naruto grabbed some of the twigs the person had gathered nearby and added them to the flames to make them brighter, keeping it from burning out.

Unrolling his sleeping bag, Naruto crawled in and lay on his stomach.

Looking into the fire he thought of the same thing that had been on his mind for several years now…Sasuke.

He wondered where he was right now, what he was doing, and if he was okay.

He knew Sasuke had killed Orochimaru, Kabuto, and some members of Akatsuki including Itachi.

Those were some of Konoha's biggest enemies.

Naruto sighed, "Where could he be hiding?"

"Where is who hiding AND WHO ARE YOU?" groaned the person who had been laying asleep across from him.

Naruto jumped into a sitting position in surprise. "I'm so sorry I…"

Naruto's jaw dropped as the man sat up.

"Sasuke?"

Dark eyes looked through raven hair at the blond sitting before him.

Those blue eyes… "Naruto."

...

AMETHYST-GEM:

It's been a long while since I posted anything. I didn't work too hard on this 1st chappie since it was already kinda thought out but if it gets enough attention I will continue it and give it a worthy plot for all my readers

I have no editor so if someone would like to step up and take that position I would very much appreciate it.

LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK.

As for the next chappie:

CHAPTER 2: TALKING: Sasuke and Naruto get over the shock of seeing each other and talk over Ramen. After getting more rest Naruto and Sasuke put things aside for some fun and training as well as learning.