Finality, a naruto fanfic

This was my first fanfiction that I ever actually posted online. I've reread it, edited parts that needed it, and, within the story, answered questions asked by former reviewers. I need votes on whether I should continue it, though. Check it out.

This takes place two years after the Shippuuden. It leaves the plot of Shippuuden just after Itachi's death, just to inform you. The story is T for violence.

Finality

Two years. Had it really been two years? Two years and what? He had counted... he remembered counting. Two years, two months and eight days. A while back they had picked up his trail, right? How many weeks ago? He'd didn't know. It didn't really matter now, did it?

A watery cough sounded, and it took him several moments to realize it was his own. A sort of gasping growling was also distracting him, near his ear. Voices murmured, inaudible as he tried to make out what had happened. Where was he? Why couldn't he hear correctly? Why was the throbbing pain slowly turning to a numbing blackness?

Too many questions.

A startled gasp broke through whatever sound barrier was around him, and he attempted to open his eyes, only succeeded in opening slits, to see a black (with some orange, he noticed) shape in front of him, a read haze decreasing. His red eyes moved to the second and third figures as they bled into black, spotting no recognizable colours, except for a light reddish pink and white on the second.

He could feel another presence, but his eyes slipped shut again.

Another word slipped through the sound barrier, but he couldn't quite decipher it... was that his name? Or was it something else...?

Not long ago…

The wind was light and cool, perfect for the slightly heated day in the forest and field. It was not uncommon here, on the forest and desert border, the wind from further within the Fire country contradicting the heat coming from the Wind country. Spring was going to end soon; it must be May, or something around that. It wasn't like he could keep track. It was no more than three hours in a village before someone recognized him, and then he'd have to turn tail and run before he could ask.

The days had gone by rather uneventfully for the past month or so. The sighting of a masked shinobi had been reported here, though, and he was determined to find him and capture him.

There was a small, secluded village not far away, and if he was lucky, no one would recognize him. Most-likely someone would, and announce it to the entire bar, or wherever he'd be, but he could still try.

The young shinobi pushed down on the branch he was crouched on, immediately streaking into the field, his arms limp as he sped through the tall grasses. Ebony locks of hair flew out of his face as he rushed into the forest on the other side of the field, banking right suddenly, and heading deeper into the Fire country. It felt odd, but comfortably familiar, being here again, after over a year of avoiding Konoha's territory.

Sasuke sighed mentally as he jumped into the canopy of trees, and shook the comfort away. He wasn't here to stay; he couldn't even if he wanted to. The fact that he had no headband at all reminded him of this.

Not an hour later, the fugitive shinobi came to a stop at the edge of a rice field. It was a more rural town, then. He jumped down from the trees, and skirted the edge of the field, making his way around it and into the village. Despite the lack of regular technology, it was rather large, he noted, which could help him find any rumors about the current former member of Akatsuki he was searching for. The only downside to the search was that they didn't where the cloaks anymore.

The bar and inn combined were not hard to find; seven or so men were gathered around it in the dusk, some slurring and flirting with any woman they saw, which were few, others will near-full cups of alcohol, discussing whatever there was to discuss in such a town as this.

Sasuke ignored the small group mingling outside, and walked into the tavern, which was as dark inside as it was outside, in the failing light. Candles were lit on each table, and lamps hung over the bar itself. It wasn't very busy yet, but it was enough to ask questions. No one seemed to have noticed him yet, which was good, meaning they probably weren't used to shinobi coming to the village, therefore would not recognize one if they saw one.

Fifteen minutes later, the Uchiha still hadn't found anything after asking four different people. He'd gotten information on a simple band of shinobi wandering around from Suna to Konoha, but that was all he had learned, and it was a common thing to see Suna shinobi going to Konoha.

"The ninja from Konoha that came by here a few days ago? I heard they finally met up the Sunagakure ninja. I heard one of the elders say both the Konoha and Suna shinobi were some of both villages' finest, minus the Hokage herself."

Sasuke's hand stopped, his drink frozen before he could take a drink at the words the man behind him was speaking. He set his drink down to listen to another man's response.

"Yeah, weren't they searching for something? I thought I heard them asking around about some other shinobi, a missing-nin, I think. Caught a trail a little ways back. I forget the description they gave him. But he's the last strong Konoha missing-nin still out there, and not captured. What was his name again? Sas- something?"

Sasuke stood abruptly, and turned walking over to the group of four men sitting around a table. "Where were these shinobi headed?" he asked bluntly and authoritatively.

He shrugged, raising his eyebrows. "How the hell am I supposed to know? They left the village taking the north exit, but they're shinobi. They could have doubled back."

Sasuke's blank stare turned to a glare, before he huffed indignantly, and turned, swiftly leaving the tavern.

The Uchiha stopped outside on the porch of the tavern, near the group of older men who had been discussing the crops when he went inside. Their conversation changed, however, and was, again, focused on the shinobi who had passed through the small village.

"It was a full jounin team, as far as I could tell," said a blond man with a shrug. "Four of 'em: three guys and a girl."

"That's what I remember. Searchin' for one of Konoha's missing-nins. It was the Uchiha, right?"

Sasuke stiffened, ready to leave immediately if the men had been given a description of him. They didn't appear to notice anything out-of-the-ordinary, though.

"I don't remember," replied the blond. "But it was something like that. Last I heard, the boastful one (stupid kid) said something about meeting up with an elite team from Sunagakure."

Sasuke was gone a moment later, running down the street as speeds only another shinobi could match.

So they were searching for him again. Sasuke shifted slightly in his position against the trunk of a tree, the only sign of his uneasiness. In the past two years, he had gotten wind of his old village searching him twice. He had found three trail remnants left by Konoha shinobi as well, and soon realized they were correctly guessing where he was going, but were getting there too quick. They would get ahead of him, attempting to take shortcuts and passing him up, not realizing that the missing-nin was not attempting to escape.

Now, five months later, they were at it again, but were too far ahead of him again.

Sasuke huffed, semi-amused, looking out across the wide field, slowly melding into rock and sand. Konoha constantly tried to to get ahead and take control of things, but they always made a mistake in some way. When it came to the Uchiha, they messed up by being too far ahead.

Before Sasuke had killed Itachi (nearly dying in the process), Konoha had been far behind. They had appeared only just as Sasuke had hidden himself, not having to hide his chakra, having barely any. They had not found him, but instead took his brother's body and went back to Konoha.

Shortly after this, Hebi split. Sasuke did not need them anymore, and Juugo had been killed by Kisame anyway, and vice versa.

Since then, Sasuke had wandered rather randomly, until he made the decision to hunt down the rest of Akatsuki on his own. The Uchiha was able to take down only Zetsu. He ran into another one, Tobi, if he remembered correctly, who never actually fought him but eluded him before fleeing. This happened many times over, and Sasuke still had yet to capture or even fight him properly. The other two surviving had left no traces of where they might be.

Now it was time for a new method. Instead of running the opposite direction from the Konoha and Suna shinobi, Sasuke was going to follow them, to see if they had an old trail picked up, and to simply see what had become of his former companions. Of course (though Sasuke would never admit it), the reasons might be because he was getting bored.

They were meeting up with Suna shinobi. That meant that they were sure they were getting closer, and wanted back-up. That was understandable. A team of four had failed to barely hurt him two years ago, and it was known that Sasuke had killed both Orochimaru and Itachi, as well as two other Akatsuki members. Four shinobi, even if they were elite, would have some trouble.

Sasuke pushed himself from the trunk of the tree, and began walking along the line of the forest, heading north, where he was sure the two villages' elites would be meeting up.

"Are you sure this is what he's going to do? That we'll finally get him this time?"

The young female spoke up, her voice soft yet hardened from years of experience.

"Yes, I am sure, Sakura. Sasuke had a tendency to change his styles back when he was in Konoha, and he would probably do the same thing now." The oldest of the party spoke in reply to Sakura, not moving from his position on the tree branch.

The other three Konoha shinobi sat in similar positions, though two of them chose to stand on a tree branch, leaning against the tree supporting said branches.

"You'd better be right," muttered the blond, glaring straight ahead of him. They were looking out across a flat of fields, though in the distance, several hundred yards away, the orange and tans of the near-by desert were visible, explaining the warm wind against the cool air of the forest. Naruto sighed harshly, looking thoroughly impatient. "Where are they? They said we'd be meeting here, at the tree line, right?"

"If they said they were meeting here, they'll be here," said Sakura tiredly, rubbing her forehead. "Stop complaining, Naruto."

The Kyuubi vessel sighed again, but didn't say any more. He rocked back and forth on the branch above Kakashi, who glanced up lazily before looking out across the field again. "They're coming now," he muttered standing up and stretching.

"What, where?" demanded Naruto, immediately standing up and looking intently out of the forest. Sakura rolled her eyes, but her body had tensed as well, just as Sai's had, though he appeared to still be in deep concentration with a drawing.

The three Sunagakure shinobi were soon visible, running swiftly across the plains. A wide, triumphant grin spread across Naruto's face at the same moment a small smile spread across Sakura's features. Kakashi showed no emotion, except for a slight flash in his one visible eye.

"Now we go."

A small smirk spread across the Uchiha's features. As he had expected, his chakra signature had been picked up by the three Suna shinobi, the siblings, of course. They had reported it to the four Konoha shinobi, his old team and the odd add-on, most-likely his replacement. Sasuke hadn't been close enough to see any more than the expressions of Sakura and Naruto, the former looking surprised but excited, and the latter looking angry but triumphant.

After seeing this, the Uchiha had retreated down the treeline a few hundred yards, though close enough to feel the others' chakra signatures, for when they moved off, and to what direction. The strengths were different from when he had last seen them; Kakashi's was the same, but both Naruto's and Sakura's had strengthened considerably, and the Suna shinobi's had nearly doubled, since it had been four years, and not two, since Sasuke had seen them.

The seven chakra signatures moved suddenly, swiftly moving towards him. Sasuke cursed, and moved, just as fast, away from them, into the forest, making sure to keep his chakra masked. They couldn't have sensed him. It was just the direction they were going first.

Sasuke did not stop running until he was far enough away to barely sense the chakra of the other shinobi. They were moving into the forest as well, but as a slightly different angle, proving what the Uchiha had thought. Sasuke huffed lightly before he began running the way he had come, before turning slightly, and falling onto the others' trail.

They were going slower than usual; they were probably looking for trail markers that the Uchiha might have left behind (unlikely, due to the fact that he was behind them). On occasion, a random chakra signature, usually Naruto or Kankuro, would break off from the group and go in a sort of circle, in which Sasuke would have to slow down so he wouldn't be seen.

It had been a few months since he had tracked anyone, or been tracked, and it felt good to be running through the trees again, with a purpose (kind of). Sasuke didn't plan on staying here for long. He would leave an obvious mark to let them know that he had known they were there, and then move away, to the southern coast, he had decided. Not that anyone would know other than himself.

The chakra signatures were slowing again, and the Uchiha slowed as well, while also branching off slightly. It would be best not to stay on their trail at all times.

A crack sounded through the air as the branch Sasuke had just landed on broke at the base the exact moment something large and shapeless bounded down to the ground. The Uchiha swiftly planted his feet on the trunk of the tree, crouching in a vertical manner, staring down at the creature. It looked like a drawing come to life. Sasuke's eyes widened a fraction. It was a jutsu, created of... drawings? Huffing with realization, Sasuke launched himself at the creature. It was the Sai person's jutsu; he was sure of it. He had seen one of the creatures scouting the area where he had fought Itachi before they appeared themselves.

Upon making contact with the dog-like thing in a kick, it splashed into ink, splattering to the ground. Whipping around, the Uchiha dodged into the trees, masking his chakra again. It appeared the damage had been done, however, as three chakra signatures appeared in front of him suddenly, and four behind him. Tsk-ing, Sasuke stopped, teetering on a branch at first, before straightening, and crossing his arms. His expression blanked as the four signatures behind him spread out to two behind him, and one on each side.

In front of him, the figures of Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura and Hatake Kakashi appeared, crouched on branches a few yards away from the Uchiha. Each wore a different expression of mixed fury and excitement, then slight shock, and then nothing, except a narrowed eye.

To his left, the Kazekage of Sunagakure himself appeared, standing in a similar manner to Sasuke. On his right was the Uchiha's replacement, meaning Kankuro and Temari were behind him. As would be expected, he was surrounded.

Sasuke's expression flickered from emotionless to a smirk as he raised an ebony brow, eying Naruto, who still looked like he was going to flay the Uchiha on the spot.

"Sasuke..."

The Uchiha's name was the only thing out of the blond's mouth, said with a mix of the oddest emotions: anger was what one would immediately see on the spot, but there was also a sort of hurt in it. Obviously, Sasuke thought. He had betrayed the entire village, and most of all, Naruto and Sakura.

He was able to think no more about emotions of his past. One moment the Kyuubi container was standing in front of him, seething in anger and regret (most-likely), and the next, he was in front of Sasuke, arm raised and fisted. The Uchiha had barely any time to dodge out of the way, still resulting in his shoulder being clipped, the force pushing him in a direction he had not wanted to go.

Sasuke skidded to halt in a crouch on the ground, then immediately leaped up and backwards before he turned and swiftly began dodging through the trees. Naruto tore after him; the rest of the group on his heals as the Uchiha fled towards the fields again.

"Why is he trying to escape?" called Sakura back to Kakashi, glancing at him briefly. He shook his head, speeding up to fall in step beside her.

"Sasuke's not running from us; he's leading us to a more spacious place," replied the copy-nin. "He does not expect to escape right now without a fight. We were lucky we have Sai; Sasuke has never seen one of his jutsu's, and was caught off guard."

Sakura blinked, before nodding fiercely. She pushed forward, nearly catching up with Naruto before sighing, and falling back again. It would be rather hard to keep up with him at the moment, when he was so close to getting to Sasuke once again.

The Uchiha stopped several yards out, before turning and facing the blond who had landed just out of the tree line. Behind him, the six other shinobi gathered, staying within the trees. Sakura made to come out of the shade, but Kakashi put an arm in front of her, and whispered something inaudible to her. The kunoichi slumped slightly, but nodded, stepping back.

Sasuke turned his dark eyes to Naruto, tilting his head back as the whisker-like marks on his cheeks sharpened, branching out slightly. His eyes bled into crimson at the same time as he growled. The Uchiha's eyes narrowed, recalling an odd time four-and-a-half years ago. He shook his head swiftly to wipe out the memory, focusing on the current situation. Despite signs of the Kyuubi showing on Naruto, Sasuke saw no fear or nervousness on the faces of his companions, and the blond looked to be in perfect control.

"You seem to have improved slightly," muttered Sasuke, cocking his head.

The Kyuubi vessel seemed to take this as some sort of signal, for in a flash, he was rushing at Sasuke again. His teeth gritted in a hard grimace as he raised a clawed hand at the Uchiha, slashing down at what would have been Sasuke's chest had he not moved out of the way in time. Sasuke immediately whipped around, landing a kick to the blond's side.

Naruto grunted, but flipped away as the kick hit, landing in a crouch several feet away. He huffed, then straightened, placing his hands in a quick symbol. He didn't speak, but several shadow clones still appeared around him, all with the same Kyuubi-induced differences from his regular appearance. Sasuke uttered a humming noise, stepping back several paces to distance himself from the clones. They were weak, but he had experience and knowledge on the fact that when used by Naruto, they could be dangerous, and could trick even the smartest person.

Simultaneously, the five versions of Naruto dashed forward in an attack, and Sasuke jumped back again as they leaped forward, three attempting to punch him from the front and two trying to kick him from above. Swinging his leg around, Sasuke kicked one of the clones, and puffed into smoke as he punched another.

Leaping out of the way, Sasuke drew a kunai from his sleeve and threw it at one of the three Naruto's. The clone dodged out of the way, but flew straight into an invisible wire attached to the kunai, and the wire was wrapped around him before he disappeared too. Back up again as the last two Naruto's advanced on him, Sasuke withdrew the kunai back into the sleeve of his haori before stopping and charging forward again. He landed a kick on one of the Naruto's, who back up hastily, but did not disappear. Smirking lightly, Sasuke flicked a kunai at the clone without a glance at it, before leaping up again, to put distance between himself and Naruto.

He jumped up after the Uchiha immediately, however, swiftly making to punch Sasuke in the gut. He deflected the blow just barely, causing Naruto hit his rib cage instead. Grunting, the Uchiha took hold of Naruto's arm and swung him back to the ground. He righted himself and fell to the ground in a crouch, Sasuke following.

The Kyuubi container was up in a second, however, four shuriken coming out of nowhere. Two missed Sasuke completely, while the other two scraped his arm and cheek. Hissing lightly, Sasuke redrew the wired kunai and threw it at Naruto again. The weapon missed and the Uchiha withdrew it while throwing three shuriken at his opponent. Naruto growled as one of them narrowly missed his eye, slicing a thin red mark right next to it instead, then drew a kunai and charged.

Sasuke drew a different kunai and deflected the blow, a few sparks shattering into the air from the contact of metal on metal. The two shinobi flashed back then forward again, resulting in a similar outcome.

Finally, Sasuke backed up with a leap, throwing the kunai at Naruto, who expectantly repelled it with his own. The sound of a weapons being unsheathed sounded before the Uchiha charged at Naruto again, his katana drawn and in a style to attack.

"Their skills have evened out," muttered Kakashi, his one visible eye narrowing.

Sakura nodded, watching the two as metal on metal created sparks again. Naruto was doing well for having no katana like Sasuke did. Sighing, she leaned back against the tree, itching to go out and join the fight. She understood what Kakashi had said to her, though. Pride was an immense issue when it came to fights, and many other things. Naruto would probably get mad at Sakura if she intervened, and force her back for two reasons: he would not want her to get hurt, not another team member, and because this fight was for him and him alone.

The kunoichi could not help but gasp when Sasuke landed a punch in Naruto's gut, sending her teammate flying several yards before he skidded to the ground with a growl. He was up in a moment, teeth bared as he ran at Sasuke again, who easily side-stepped Naruto and swung a kick into his back.

"He's getting frustrated," muttered Kakashi. He sighed, but did nothing else. Sakura looked from her former sensei to Naruto with a sigh of her own as her friend stood up from a near face-plant into the ground.

Naruto was up quickly, but some bruises were already forming on his face, and he had some scratches from Sasuke's katana. Wiping his eyes of dust, the Konoha shinobi glared fiercely at Sasuke before he made another run at Sasuke, swinging a punch at his chest. The Uchiha dodged the attack again, but had not been prepared for the second Naruto who had quite suddenly charged at him from within the trees, landing a hard kick to Sasuke's side before disappearing in a puff of smoke from the impact. The blow still caused the Uchiha to loose his balance and nearly fall before regaining it, and jumping away from Naruto.

"When did he make that shadow clone?" gasped Sakura.

"It was between when Sasuke hit him, and when he landed on the ground afterwards," said Kakashi.

Sakura fell silent in slight fear and anticipation as her eyes caught a flash of red from the Uchiha, and she groaned lowly. It should be expected that Sasuke would use the Sharingan at one time or another.

Sasuke huffed as Naruto smirked triumphantly, before he ran at Sasuke, this time with a kunai in hand. Sasuke deflected the blow immediately with his katana, twisting the blade so it slipped down the kunai's edge and slit across Naruto's index finger and thumb. The Kyuubi container hissed and back up, but switched the kunai to his other hand before darting forward again.

No real jutsu's had been used, and yet Naruto was on the downside already. Of course, Sasuke new full well that his former teammate did not want to kill him, which gave him a slight advantage. Sasuke did not want to kill anyone in the vicinity either, but he wouldn't hold back as much as possible to get away from them. If Naruto was stabbed, it could be healed if it was anywhere other than his heart. Sasuke has seen and heard enough that Sakura would easily have the abilities to do this.

Jumping back a few yards, Sasuke raised his katana again as Naruto followed, swinging several shuriken at him before slashing the kunai forward as well. Sasuke huffed and flipped over the Kyuubi vessel, twisting in the air so he was facing Naruto when he landed. In a flash, the katana was against Naruto's neck, pressed against the skin just under his chin. Growling lowly, he raised his hand in a slightly threatening pose, before letting it drop, but not letting go of the kunai.

The Uchiha ignored the slightly strangled gasp from within the trees, instead choosing to stand perfectly still for several moments before he moved the katana down to across Naruto's chest, and sharply drew the blade to the side and away from Naruto, who gasped at the new, long cut across his collar bone.

Sasuke backed up hastily, chancing a glance into the trees while Naruto got over the small, but obviously painful slash. He smirked lightly at Sakura's near-panic-stricken face. She was the only one showing any emotion at the moment; everyone else appeared as rather regular shinobi.

Naruto seemed to have recovered, and was now standing away from Sasuke, kunai in his hand forgotten as it dropped to the ground. Sasuke raised an eyebrow, before he slowly sheathed his own sword, and walked calmly towards Naruto.

The Kyuubi container jumped at him the moment he was in range, apparently ready for a taijutsu fight that he wouldn't be able to win. Blocking his punch with ease, Sasuke aimed a kick to Naruto's legs. Naruto jumped just in time and kicked at the Uchiha, who again blocked the attack with his own kick, knocking his former teammate's away.

The close-in fight continued; neither shinobi seemed to have the ability to get an actual hit in. Naruto still seemed to be on the down side, however, as he narrowly dodged the attacks, while Sasuke was moving out of the way with ease.

Finally, the Uchiha made a quick move to the left, feigning a punch to the right side of Naruto's gut, before stopping suddenly and kicking him forcefully in the side. Naruto lost his balance, flying several feet before he slammed into the ground with a short gasp.

Sasuke straightened from his kick, and crossed his arms over his chest. Watching with what appeared to be boredom as Naruto picked himself up, wiping blood from a scratch on his cheek.

"You keep fighting, and you keep loosing..." sighed the Uchiha. He uncrossed his arms and began walking towards Naruto, face blank of all but what appeared to be boredom. Naruto huffed, lowering into a crouch as he glared at Sasuke. His gaze fleetingly shot to the forest behind the Uchiha, who chanced a glance at the other shinobi, and blinked. Sakura looked terrified, looking straight at Naruto and shaking her head slightly. Looking to Kakashi, Sasuke still couldn't read him very well, except to see that the one visible eye had widened slightly in shock.

Sasuke looked back to Naruto, slightly surprised to see he had not moved at all. Eyes narrowing, he mentally tensed, watching with guarded eyes as a grimace appeared on the Kyuubi vessel's features. His position did not change as Sasuke's senses were bombarded with a huge spike in Naruto's chakra signature. Gasping lightly, he stepped back in automatic defense, tensing physically.

The chakra was different from Naruto's regular kind... Sasuke cursed suddenly, and drew his katana at the same moment he bounded forward towards Naruto, katana in a position to attack.

"What is he doing? Why is running towards him? That'll get him killed!" exclaimed Sakura, once again attempting to run out of the shelter of the trees, only to be stopped again by Kakashi's arm.

"He's trying to get to Naruto in time to stop him from using some of the Kyuubi's power," said the copy-nin quietly, not looking down at Sakura. "If I recall correctly, the last time they seriously fought – four years ago –, Naruto used the Kyuubi's power, and nearly overpowered Sasuke until he used the curse seal."

Sakura blinked, but nodded fiercely. "Okay. But what if he doesn't get close enough to him in time? Is Sasuke going to kill Naruto? He can't do that!"

"Sakura, calm down. If Naruto actually comes close to death, we'll intervene and stop Sasuke from killing him. And we will do the same thing if Naruto nearly kills Sasuke."

Sakura visibly calmed at this, and slumped against the tree-trunk. "I hope they finish this soon, then."

Before he could reach him, Naruto had disappeared. Sasuke whipped around immediately, having followed him despite the speed with the Sharingan. He had not anticipated the harsh kick the Kyuubi container dealt to his stomach, however; Sasuke gasped with the shock and pain of being hit, moving back and skidding to the ground in a low crouch.

The Uchiha stayed like this for several moments to catch his breath and ease the pain in his stomach before he straightened, looking around. His eyes narrowed when he caught a gleam of light behind Naruto, and he growled when he saw Sakura dart out of the trees and pick up his katana, looking from the blade to him before running back to the trees.

Cursing silently, Sasuke drew out a kunai, and held it ready as Naruto ran at him again. The chakra he had been feeling since the one large blast had increased some-what, and the Uchiha had finally recognized it. He had felt the exact same thing four-and-a-half years ago, when he had fought Naruto as the Kyuubi container's attempt to keep him in Konoha.

It was the Kyuubi's chakra.

The red glow around Naruto was proof enough to the Uchiha's thoughts. Ignoring the odd pressure the feel of the chakra in his senses was, Sasuke darted to the side and rebounded his former teammate's kick with his own swing, negating the effects of both attacks.

Naruto had barely landed on both feet after the kicks before he was going at Sasuke again, his hand open instead of fisted, intending to slash him rather than punch. Jumping back, Sasuke knocked the Kyuubi vessel's arm away. He had only enough time to block a second blow with Naruto's other arm with his own, causing three long but thin gashes across his forearm. Blood seeped out swiftly, and Sasuke cursed loudly before he flipped backwards, landing several yards away from Naruto.

The Uchiha drew out a kunai and ran towards Naruto, flicking it at him as he ran. The Kyuubi container dodged the dagger and crouched down, swinging a kick at Sasuke's legs. Leaping over him, Sasuke smashed his heel into Naruto's back, watching in minor satisfaction as his former teammate was nearly ground into the earth as the Uchiha jumped off of him, landing not far away.

Sasuke frowned slightly when Naruto picked himself up, but did not stand up. His head snapped up, holding the fiercest glower Sasuke had received yet as the red chakra spiked again. This time, the glow around Naruto did not recede from the spike; it bubbled around him as he growled lowly at Sasuke. Most of it seemed to be building up at the base of Naruto's spine, and a cold shock went through the Uchiha along with realization.

A chakra-made tail had built itself up, as well as two long, fox-like ears. Cursing again, Sasuke jumped back several more yards, glancing behind Naruto to the forest, to see if this was new, or feared. Sakura looked extremely uneasy, but not panicky like she would be if this were new or really dangerous. She was, again, the only one Sasuke could read from such a distance.

Sasuke's eyes widened slightly when he refocused on Naruto, narrowing them shortly after when he realized he was summoning more shadow clones.

More than before appeared, all tail-and-ears equipped; nine or ten of them. Hissing, Sasuke fell in a taijutsu stance as three of the Naruto's ran at him, fists raised. Sasuke aimed a kick at the first one to reach him, frowning more still when the clone didn't disappear immediately, but linger before disappearing in smoke. This gave the other two clones time to kick Sasuke in both the gut and legs, causing him to loose his balance with a shocked gasp.

The Uchiha had no time to regain his balance after the fall and stand up before another Naruto had come into view, in a position that he could have only jumped to do. Sasuke's eyes widened when he spotted what Naruto was doing, also giving away the fact that this was not a clone.

Rasengan.

It had occurred fleetingly to him, seconds before the compressed ball of chakra struck him, that he could have overpowered Naruto only if he had chosen to use the Curse Seal. Yet, as Sasuke lowered his defenses while the Kyuubi vessel charged, he decided it didn't matter. He was tired, and fighting this… running again… what was the point? Why not just… go back?

'Why not?' was the last thought to run through Uchiha Sasuke's head before he was struck, and blackness engulfed him.

Too many questions.

He could feel another presence, but his eyes slipped shut again.

Another word slipped through the sound barrier, but he couldn't quite decipher it... was that his name? Or was it something else...?

A comforting, warm feeling entered him, on and in his side, before he gasped in a sudden, sharp pain, as if his body was being stitched with its own skin.

"…awake."

Blurry snatches of speech slipped in and out of Sasuke's senses.

"…he talk? I need to talk to…"

Sasuke blinked, trying to make out the small crowd of figures around him. Closest to him was… Sakura? Yeah, that was Sakura. She was kneeling by his side, hands hovering above the area just below his rib cage.

His sight was getting better. That was good. Behind Sakura, the Uchiha could see Naruto standing with Kakashi. He looked normal again, blue eyes and all, but slightly panicked. Behind those two, Sasuke could make out Gaara, Temari and Kankuro, standing back from them respectfully.

It was only then that Sasuke realized he had been moved to the forest so Sakura could tend to him.

Sasuke muttered incoherently for several moments before he was finally able to speak audibly.

"Time… to come back…? Hm…"

He coughed again, before his senses blanked out again, casting him into darkness.

Fin

Reviews, please. I need to know whether to continue it.