Italics: thought

Quotations( "…"): speech

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto in any way shape or form

"Facing Your Darkest Hour"

"Sasuke, you have to be careful from this point on," the masked man warned. "Our next move is crucial. You and I are the only ones left. If you want to accomplish your mission, then you're gonna have to come up with a plan."

Sasuke's mind raced as he looked out over Konoha, the village he once called home. He stood atop the Hokage Mountain, glaring out at the village that had been the source of all the pain in his life. Memories of the day his life was changed forever flashed vividly in his mind, all the sorrow he'd been holding back for the past decade threatening to come to the surface. Even the heavens felt his pain as the sky darkened and they shed tears of their own. A single crack of thunder rumbled in the distance, and instantly Sasuke's sorrow was replaced with anger. Not anger toward his elder brother for killing their family, but anger toward this village before him for putting his brother Itachi up to the task in the first place.

"Don't worry about it, Madara," Sasuke whispered to himself, "I do have a plan." With that, Sasuke began to make his way to the village entrance. This will take a good bit of acting. I can't just launch an offensive on the village, I need them to think that I'm still an ally for just a little bit longer.

Naruto couldn't believe it, Sasuke had finally come back after all these years. When he had first arrived, Naruto couldn't have been happier. His best friend had finally come back after he killed Itachi, but the feeling didn't last long. Sasuke had changed, and apparently Naruto was the only one who had noticed it.

No one in the village aside from Naruto, Kakashi, and Sakura were all that happy that he had returned. He remained a traitor in the eyes of many often had to face public attacks on his honor. Sasuke was able to stop himself from reacting negatively to any of these insults, in fact he had taken all of them surprisingly well. Sasuke had become a much calmer person in his time away.

However, what really got to Naruto was the fact that Sakura had right back to Sasuke since he had come back. He acted the same way that he always had around her even when they started dating; Naruto had never even seen then kiss. Sakura was almost always glowing when she was with him though, well except when Naruto was around. For some reason, and Naruto didn't have the slightest 

idea why, when ever Naruto was around she would suddenly become rather gloomy. She would always look away from him when the three of them would spend time together.

"I just don't get it, why would he have waited so long after he killed Itachi to come back?" Naruto wondered to himself as he walked toward the outskirts of the village. "I mean two years is a long time, what the hell could he have been doing while he was waiting to come back here."

Naruto couldn't take it anymore. He had spent the better part of this day looking for Sasuke. He needed to know why he had taken so long to come back, he wanted to know where the hell Sasuke had been during all that time. His search continued, he had checked the entire village from top to bottom and decided that they had to be somewhere outside of it. Naruto figured that he would have some luck finding him out in the forest, it was a place that Sasuke often went when he wanted to be alone. This time though, as Naruto closed in on the clearing he had often found Sasuke in he noted that he could hear voices. Naruto slowed down a short distance from the clearing, close enough to overhear the conversation, as well as see Sasuke and Sakura together.

"So Sasuke, why did you call me out here?" Sakura asked with a nervous look on her face as she brushed her bangs off of her faced. "This isn't like you to call me out into the middle of nowhere just to talk, and we've been here for almost a half hour, what are you waiting for?"

Sasuke took a quick glance over his shoulder and Naruto was almost positive that he had been spotted when Sasuke turned back to Sakura with a smirk on his face. "Nothing, I've just waiting for the right time to say this," Sasuke said clearly as he began to walk toward Sakura backing her into a tree. "I think it's time," he cooed after he put a hand on the tree behind Sakura, "that we bring our relationship to the next level."

Sakura began to blush furiously and Naruto's shock was almost palpable. Though he had not been noticed he surely would be if he stayed there, so he ran. He ran hard, he ran fast, and he didn't stop running even after he had made it back to the village. He ran straight into the park where he collapsed onto the ground, shaking. Come now boy, did you really think that they were never going to move past the stage of hand holding and butterfly kisses. The Kyuubi had awakened just as he usually did when Naruto was stressed.

Naruto closed his eyes and was soon face to face with the huge demon that dwelled within him. "Shut up! You don't even know what you're talking about," Naruto shouted furiously.

"You know, if you really don't want them to be together I could always just kill that Uchiha boy," the Kyuubi stated sadistically. "Don't even bother trying to hide it from me, I am your anger, I know what you really want. Just let me out, let me kill him and everyone else who's hurt you. I promise that I will make them pay."

"No! I refuse to let you out, I don't need you to take care my problems for me anymore, I'll handle this myself just like all my other problems." Naruto shouted, shaking in frustration and anger.



"Fine, I'll stay in here for now, but when you're at your weakest, I'll be waiting to come back. And I swear that when I do I'll destroy you and everything that you hold dear." The Kyuubi stated with his voice almost dripping with malice.

"As if I'd ever be so weak as to let you take escape." Naruto retorted in a poisonous tone.

"I don't know if I'm ready for that Sasuke," Sakura said blushing uncontrollably and looking toward the ground. "Maybe we should wait a while."

Sasuke snickered. "Forget it, this entire trip has already served its purpose." He said looking back in the direction that Naruto had run from. "For that matter so have you."

Before Sakura had even known what had happened she was staring into a Sharingan. Everything when black as Sakura fell limp to the ground. Perfect, I could him loosing himself to the Kyuubi when he ran way and for a short while after that the Kyuubi was getting even stronger. He only needs one more push and I can certainly manage that. "Thanks a lot Sakura, you actually did end up serving a purpose for me in the end after all." Sasuke sneered as he left the unconscious Sakura in the clearing. "Just one more push and the Kyuubi will be mine. At long last, I can avenge my clan. For Konoha, this is the beginning of the end."