Chapter 1: Courage

Panic was everywhere.

Chaos was everywhere.

But amidst all this was also hope - hope for an end to this chaos and fear.

And even though knives clashed and fists hit, he never lost his hope - the hope that was right in front of his eyes, trying to kill him.

He felt tired, almost falling to his knees. His body ached - unbearably.

But he kept going.

He didn t want to stop and be killed by the only thing that kept him going. His best friend - and his rival.

They clashed together.

He stared angrily into his calm face.

"I know you care! I just know it!" Both jumped back - and charged again.

He managed to block a punch but got hit by the other fist, sending him to the ground pretty hard. He wiped the blood off his mouth, staring hard at him. He noticed a smile on his friend s face, burning him up with anger. He clenched his hands to fists and tried to scream at him.

But he needed to catch his breath.

To his shock, he saw that his former friend took out his sword, the sound echoing in his ears.

"I won t let this happen. Not as long as I believe in you," he thought, determined to move.

He closed his eyes in frustration. He knew he had no more energy left to fight. He slowly tried to stand up, stumbling on shaky feet. But when he finally managed to stand up, it was already too late.
He was too close, dashing his deadly weapon towards him.
It was a direct hit into his chest, causing him to trip backwards.

"Not done yet?" he asked his apparently killed friend when smoke started to surround him.

Suddenly he noticed footsteps behind him - quick ones.

"I ll never stop believing for our friendship, Sasuke!" he screamed, dashing with his Rasengan towards him.

But he just stepped to the side, causing him to miss and dashed his sword from behind.
Naruto quickly turned around but only saw the blade coming towards him.

Suddenly he felt himself being pushed and landed hard onto the ground, thereby escaping the blade. Naruto, after managing to sit up, looked puzzled into the direction from which the push came from. His eyes opened wide when realizing that Sakura just rescued him, the blade barely missing her side by an inch.

"You! I knew that we d meet again," Sasuke said, a blank expression on his face.

"But this time, I will be the one who will kill you - for real," she said with determination in her eyes, remembering the time he tried to kill her.

"But, like last time, you will fail," he said and smiled - at her pathetic confidence in herself.

She narrowed her eyes - in anger.

Naruto s eyes went from the indifferent Sasuke to the headstrong Sakura and spotted a slight wound on her side.
She clenched her fist, ready to use it against Sasuke.
But he was quicker and dashed the blade, he still held in his hand, towards her throat.
Naruto stared at the scene in shock but still felt too weak to stand up.
Sakura, instead of ducking, just stopped the blade with her hand, causing a cut along her palm.
Blood covered part of the sword and dripped to the ground.

"I will win," she smiled and dashed a fist towards him.

He blocked it easily with his free hand.
Both pushed against each other, fighting for a weak spot.

"How can he keep up with my strength? He s unbelievable," she thought surprised.

She stared hard at him, clenching her teeth while trying not to lose her concentration. She noticed that her palm began to hurt - a lot. The blade, she was pushing against, was gradually cutting deeper into her palm.

"You re so annoying," Sasuke said - and smiled.

Sakura remembered the night he left, making her more determined to win.

Suddenly, her hand, no more felt the sharp edge of the blade and she saw her chance.

She concentrated chakra into her fist and was ready to strike.

But it was too late.

The blade struck her chest, making Sakura fall to the ground.

He looked down at her and said: I told you before. You will lose!

"Stop!" Naruto cried.

Sasuke didn t even care to look at him.

"She deserved it!" he simply answered.

Sakura was unmoving, staring at her former teammate with fear and pain.
He dashed his sword into her.
But what he hit wasn t Sakura.

It was a tree trunk.

He turned around to see Sakura dashing her fist into the ground, breaking it apart.
Sasuke managed to escape the hole that was about to swallow him and activated his Sharingan.
Suddenly he noticed a huge boulder flying towards him.

"Too slow," he said.

Suddenly the boulder broke apart, Sakura appearing behind the broken pieces with a fist pointing towards Sasuke.

"See if you can avoid a rain of rocks," she shouted, the rocks falling towards him.

She noticed that he used his Chidori and just smashed the rocks which came into his way.
She landed on the ground but saw that Sasuke vanished.

Suddenly she noticed him behind her.

"He s too fast!"

She heard the sound of his Chidori.

"Just like the night. He hit me from behind. He is sneaking up from behind - and I didn t notice," she thought and remembered the night again - and how he hit her unconscious after thanking her.

She concentrated chakra into her feet and dashed to the side before getting hit. She turned around but received a hard punch into her face, sending her to the ground.

He lifted her by the throat.

"I said stop !" a voice said.

Suddenly Sasuke got punched into his face, almost falling down.

"I m not done yet," Naruto said and took out a kunai.

He charged at him but missed.

Suddenly he felt himself being lifted from behind and was thrown several meters, landing painfully onto the ground.
He tried to lift himself but managed it only slowly.

"Now I ll end you for sure," Sasuke said and activated his Chidori again.

He charged.

Sakura stood protectively in front of Naruto.

"If you want to kill him, you have to kill me first," she screamed.

"Don t do it, Sakura!" Naruto cried.

"I really am annoying - just like Sasuke said. I thought I have changed but I m still relying on you, Naruto. I just cry instead of fighting for what s important to me. But now I want to change - because you are important to me. I won t cry anymore! I will fight instead. Now I m the one protecting you - even if it means death. I thought I was brave enough to bring him back but I always failed. But now I finally found my courage to stand up for you," she said and noticed a tear rolling down her cheek.
"I really loved you - for being there for me. And now it s my turn to be there for you," she thought.

"Sakura!" he thought and remembered her confession of loving him.

Both stared at Sasuke, ready for anything that would come next - ready for the end.