Author's Note: Let me explain just what this is. These are drabbles. You see, I was—and still am—dissatisfied with my skills in writing. So my good friend PyrothTenka suggested this little thing called "750 words a day". Pretty straight-forward. I write 750 words every day about anything and everything.

The catch is that I'm not allowed to edit any of it. 750 words, then I move on to something else.

I am doing this solely to hone my skills. You don't have to review for this, but if you do, it will be appreciated. Thank you.

Regards,

— Duesal Bladesinger

Never Underestimate Naruto

Chapter 1

"Well, Naruto? What do you know, huh?! You, who've never had a family! What the hell do you know of my pain?!"

Naruto felt something break upon hearing those words. He had thought . . . he'd thought that someone finally understood him. But he was wrong.

"You're right . . ."

Twin Sharingan blinked in confusion, and Naruto looked straight into them.

"You're right. I don't know what it's like! I've never had a family. I've never had anyone to love or who loved me. Heck, I've never had any friends."

Something wet dribbled down his cheeks, and Naruto scrubbed at his eyes.

Sasuke's expression never changed from that of utter scorn. So what? So what if the dobe never had anyone? That loneliness could never compare to the pain of having a family, then having them ripped from your live by your own brother.

This idiot could never understand.

Sasuke sighed, and with the exhalation, some heavy weight shed from his soul.

The shackles that tied him to Konoha had been broken, possibly forever.

And Sasuke didn't give a damn. He smiled a smile that somehow managed to be a challenging snarl. "Come, Naruto. Show me that you haven't learned nothing since we were placed on the same team. I would hate it if they sent someone so weak to bring me back."

Sasuke tried not to flinch at the expression of utter hurt on Naruto's features, but after a while, it got easier. He simply stopped caring. After all, what gave Naruto the right to get in the way of his revenge?

Sharingan swirled.

"Dodge," Sasuke said.

Six shuriken screamed through the air, all heading straight towards Naruto. Fortunately for him, the blond boy seemed to snap out of his emotional state, his battle instincts roaring to the surface.

He palmed a kunai in each hand and went to work deflecting four of the shuriken. He barely managed to dodge one by twisting his stomach to the side, but was caught by surprise by the last one which homed in on his eye.

Blue eyes burned.

Click.

That was the sound of steel against ivory. Naruto had caught the shuriken with his teeth.

Glaring, he spat it out. "Is that the best you can do?!" he screamed. He was done talking. Done pleading. If Sasuke wouldn't come back, he would make him come back. "You'll need to do better than that if you wanna take me down!"

Sasuke only smirked. "You missed the last one."

Naruto glowered. "What last o—"

There was a sudden sharp pain in his lower back, and Naruto looked behind himself to see shinobi steel impaled right above his kidneys, ripping through his jumpsuit with terrifying ease. When did he—

"Pay attention to your surroundings, idiot." Sasuke's foot slammed into his face with devastating force, sending him hurtling through the air and down deep into the water.

It took nearly ten seconds for Naruto to wrestle his way back to the surface, and by that time, the water around him was red.

Now, Naruto had been injured before, but for some reason this really hurt. It hurt so much that it was hard to move.

"It really is amazing," Sasuke said, kneeling down to look Naruto in the face, "how effective it is to aim for the pressure points in a fight. If you manage to hit one, your opponents go," Sasuke raised a hand and brought it down to slice through the water under his feet, "right down."

"Bastard," Naruto growled, all the while struggling to stand. "This . . . isn't enough to stop me!" Slowly, unsteadily, he rose to his feet.

Kunai in hand, hitai-ate tied back, he lowered himself into a fighter's stance. Naruto had no style to speak of, but he was a natural fighter, and this stance just felt right.

Sasuke only barked a laugh. "I hoped you weren't weak. Come, Naruto! Show me you're worth fighting!"

Naruto's eyes flashed red for a moment, and Sasuke blinked, thinking he'd imagined it, but in that short time Naruto vanished.

Not a trace.

Sasuke's eyes darted around him, trying to locate his wayward teammate. Just as his gaze swept over the top of the waterfall, something with the force of a meteor drove itself into the side of his face.

Sasuke went flying.

It was thirty yards before he bounced. Forty before he flipped himself upright. Forty-seven before he finally stopped skidding.

He clutched at the side of his face, but paid no attention to the pain. He was far too focused on his teammate some distance away.

His teammate with red, slitted eyes and great, bulging fangs.

The air suddenly felt like it was on fire, and the water around Naruto began to steam.

"Sasuke . . ." Sasuke shivered at the primal growl. What the hell was—

"SaSuKEEE!" The Uchiha blanched at the utter rage on Naruto's face, at the baritone of his once squeaky voice. Suddenly, he had his doubts on winning. On living.

Because whatever that was, it wasn't Naruto.

Then that thing blurred, racing towards him, and he never saw it coming.