The roar of the waterfall could be heard over miles of land. A great lake formed from the continuous running of the fall into a deep valley. An enchanting mist swirled in from the impact of water against water. Hundreds of feet of walls edged their way up the valley, composed of hard rock and packed in dirt. Two great stone carvings stood in a guard stance, each on one side of the valley. They faced each other with a blank expression on their carved faces. A robust build and terrifying meaning. This was the Valley of the End.
Sasuke and Naruto stood face to face on the cliff above the valley. Pure hate ran through Sasuke while determination ran Naruto. A myriad of red markings lining Sasuke's body stopped moving and turned a pitch black. A curse mark on Sasuke's neck swirled and set in, the sealing jutsu (technique in Japanese) failed to keep the forbidden energy from being set free. He stood with a smirk on his face. He lifted his arm and looked proudly at the power that began to control him. Power was Sasuke's meaning. Power was everything to him. Naruto stood angrily before him.
"Sasuke! I'm not going to let Orochimaru take you! I'll break every single one of your bones and drag you back to the village if I have to!" Naruto bellowed across the cliff to Sasuke.
"You baka!"(Idiot in Japanese) "I need this power. I will willingly submit to Orochimaru's evil if I receive more power!" Sasuke began to rationalize his reasons behind betraying Kohona (Leaf Village)
Sasuke laughed, his mirth expressed happily at Naruto.
"You honestly think you can stop me?" Sasuke yelled again to Naruto.
A demonic growl escaped Naruto's lips. His demon, Kyuubi (9-tailed fox in Japanese), passing over his energy to Naruto. Naruto's trademark whisker-like lines upon his face began to take the shape of actual whiskers against his face. His nails grew long like a beast and his teeth grew like fangs. Naruto's naturally zippy attitude immediately replaced with the demon's anger. His rollicking nature took the form of an angered demon. The once magnanimous Naruto took the demon's hatred and power.
A nearly globalized roar pierced the valley, shaking boulders from their places and rolling them down.
Now there was no need to optimize his power. He already had it.
Sasuke stood paralyzed with awe and….jealousy at once. The power of the nine-tails.
"It's not enough Naruto! You couldn't possibly defeat me!"
Sasuke began a charge towards Naruto. His eyes took a quick once over and they clicked. The Sharigan flickered to life. This ability of Sasuke's was a bloodline trait passed down from his clan. It allowed him to follow Naruto and anticipate his moves even before he did them.
Naruto roared and released a massive shockwave of energy. Sasuke fell back, dazed.
"You ardor will become your downfall Sasuke! I will not let you leave!" Naruto's voice grated against the demons. He bared his fangs and lurched forwards onto his hands. The demon's stance.
"You…..puerile….little….." Naruto felt the rock below him forming a crater. The energy was pushing away the solid rock.
Naruto began to run on all fours, his fox's energy rushing into with and increasing his human speed 10 fold.
"You're just the village catastrophe! What could you do?" Sasuke's eagerness faded into fear as the incoming monster glared back at him.
This cannot be Naruto!
Calm down, you can outsmart him
Sasuke found that his rationalizing was not helping to keep him calm. He panicked and jumped back and into the air.
"Katon! Gyokaku no jutsu!" Sasuke formed a seal with his hands and brought one hand to his mouth. He blew hard through it and fire emerged in fireball form. It rained down towards Naruto who was coming up to Sasuke, dodging every fireball.
Naruto came up in front of Sasuke whom bent down as if in obeisance. Naruto didn't flinch and rammed Sasuke in the stomach with his body.
"What's the matter? You're not hurt are you?" Naruto smirked. Sasuke had always been asking him that since they began in the same team. Now it was Sasuke's turn to get it.
A glint of fear shone in Sasuke's eyes. His Sharigan eye clicked and another experience mark appeared in them. Now three comma like marks were held in the eye. This would bring the Sharigan to its most complete and advanced level.
Sasuke got up and took a moment to regain his balance. He winced and stood up straight. His curse mark deformed the left side of his face. His eye socket blackened and his eye turned yellow.
Naruto snarled at the sight and charged Sasuke again. He got up out of the demon's stance and brought Sasuke down, skidding across the rock hard cliff top. He held Sasuke's shoulders down with his claws and look down at him.
Sasuke's rhetorical ability wouldn't get him out of this mess. Talking wouldn't stop a monster.
"Your duplicity stops now!" Naruto pressed harder on Sasuke's shoulders until a small cracking noise sounded from them.
"Ah, you know something Naruto? You'll never beat me." Sasuke spat a bit of blood at Naruto. He brought a handful of wire out from his pocket while Naruto had his attention on breaking his shoulders.
"Never!" Sasuke kicked Naruto hard in the stomach into the air. He brought the wire around Naruto's body and slammed him into a large boulder. He wound it around until Naruto was tied completely to the rock.
A stunned Naruto began to slam the back of his head against the rock, in order to break it from his demon's strength. He failed.
Sasuke who was now about 20 feet away from Naruto, was forming a seal while holding the end of the wire between his teeth.
"Fire Style! Phoenix Fire Jutsu!" Like a flamethrower, fire traveled down the wire at Naruto. It engulfed Naruto and a screaming could be heard.
Suddenly, the demon began to talk.
"Naruto, you misconstrue me. You aren't using nearly enough power as I allow you."
Naruto froze as a large red force field formed overhead him. It soon covered his body. Naruto smirked and strained his arms. The wire snapped and Naruto ran out, bringing his fist back and slamming it into Sasuke's face.
This was the breaking point. Sasuke was beginning to quail. Things were working in Naruto's favor now.
"You are a provocateur, Naruto! You're always starting trouble! Just let me alone!" Sasuke was now on the verge of begging for his life.
"No" Naruto head-rammed Sasuke hard in the stomach.
A gasp escaped Sasuke's lips as a 40 kilogram monster threw itself at him. Blood trickled down Sasuke's neck from the side of his mouth. Who knew what draconian punishment Naruto had planned? Suddenly without warning though, the power drained from Naruto. Naruto stood before Sasuke, his whiskers settling down onto his face before the demon took over. His nails retreated back into a normal length and his teeth strained and pulled back. Naruto was back in control.
He glanced down at the red energy around him ceasing to grow and disappearing like smoke. His mind reeled and he found himself a bit dazed.
Meanwhile, back at the village:
Naruto and Sasuke's squad leader, Kakashi walked along the village path, his eyes searching over a note in his hand. It was an anonymous letter but everyone knew who had written it. The letter was addressed to Naruto. Among all of the other Jounin(elite ninja) and squad leaders, it was unanimous who wrote the letter. Sasuke. The letter was discovered to be a challenge directed at Naruto. Naruto had received the letter and accepted the challenge. Kakashi sighed and glanced over his shoulder at someone else coming towards him from behind. The figure continued walking towards him until the person was able to be identified.
"Sakura, you shouldn't be here." Kakashi kept his gaze ahead of him as he walked.
"Kakashi-sensei, they aren't actually going to…." Sakura had a tone of sadness in her voice, her eyes hinted even more-so.
Kakashi was silent.
"Go home Sakura." Kakashi was cold now. He did not want to get her involved with this. She was the third member of his squad along with Sasuke and Naruto. She had witnessed them trying to kill each other before. If Kakashi hadn't come along, she would be dead. It was controversial what might happen if she came to close to their next fight.
Sakura stopped walking and looked down. "I just want to…."
Kakashi ignored her and continued walking until he reached open village gate. He stepped out and prepared for a summoning jutsu. He bit the side of his thumb and covered the tips of his fingers with blood. He formed several hand seals and slammed his bloodied hand onto the ground before him.
"Summoning Jutsu!" A red glow formed around 3 meters of ground in a circle. In a puff of smoke, seven nin-dogs appeared. These specially trained ninja dogs were ideal for tracking.
"Okay, everyone! Track Sasuke and Naruto's scent from this letter and spread out. Call for me once you find them."
The dogs barked and each picked up a scent.
'Scatter!" Kakashi waved his hand in the air.
The dogs disappeared and scattered off into different directions.
Sakura came up the front gate. Her eyes were swollen from the memory of the fight.
"Sakura, I want you to remember. It's not a picayune battle. This means much to the two but more-so to Sasuke."
Sakura looked up at her sensei with a look of question in her eyes.
"Sasuke wants to kill Naruto. After the last fight between them we can use that as a precedent for what may happen next."
"If we don't find them fast enough," Kakashi paused
"One of them will die."
Naruto recoiled as if he had been struck. He fell back but caught his stand. He leaned forwards and held his stomach with his right hand. The excruciating stress from the demon had drained Naruto of his normal energy. His breaths were shallow and he struggled to keep conscious.
"This….strife….long enough..." Naruto stumbled over words; his speech was jumbled from the rattling to his head before the demon took over.
Sasuke smirked as Naruto began to fall before him. It would seem that he was winning this battle. There would be no stalemate like their last fight.
Naruto fell backwards over the cliff. He plummeted down towards the earth with a grim expression on his face.
He caught his breath and forced energy towards his feet; moments before he hit the earth his energy cushioned him and brought him to his feet.
"Tsk…" Sasuke was more annoyed now. He watched as Naruto ran across the lake with his energy keeping him on the water like ice.
Naruto glanced upwards at Sasuke; they had both endured so much! And now….Sasuke wanted to kill him!
He performed a hand seal and brought it to his face.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto yelled as a clone of himself appeared at his side. The clone wore an expression similar to Naruto. It knew what to do.
Naruto brought his left hand out and opened it to reveal his palm. The clone responded by whisking his hand over Naruto's open hand. A huge amount of blue energy began to take shape as a levitating ball about twice the size of a softball on Naruto's hand. To portage such an immense amount of energy was unspeakably hard. For one, if Naruto led off course, his jutsu would be slammed into the cliff walls, brining tons of rock down onto him and Sasuke.
"What!?" Sasuke gazed down at the energy before him. Rasengan. The forbidden jutsu.
Naruto...how far have you…?
"Let's go Sasuke!" Naruto was more confident. This jutsu was one of the most powerful in existence.
"Ugh…." Sasuke groaned. He performed a few hand seals and grabbed his right arm. A blue sparking energy grew in his hands. A painful screeching similar to a thousand birds screaming emitted from his hand. Sparks similar to lightning were held on his hand.
"Chidori!" Sasuke yelled as he fell from the waterfall. In order to make the jutsu most potent, he would have to pick up speed. He spoke articulately in order to perform the jutsu even better.
The two ninja ran at each other. Naruto's clone disappeared and Sasuke and Naruto brought their energy filled hands in front of themselves.
They collided and at that moment, the picture of friendship burned into oblivion. Sasuke and Naruto weren't ones to listen to explicators. They couldn't have worked their problems through explaining or listening to another. Killing each other was the only way to prove it. The world seemed to slow down into slow motion as the two pushed at each other. Silence consumed the moment and it would seem that even the slightest noise would shatter the world.
"Sasuke!" Naruto seemed to have a hint of sadness in his voice.
"Naruto!" Sasuke had anger in his.
Their voices echoed against the falls. And the world stopped.
A horrifying scream emitted from the clash of Sasuke's Chidori and Naruto's Rasengan. The blue energies spewed out from the point of impact and began to make a sharp screech as the equal powers cancelled each other out and threw the two ninja backwards from the other.
Naruto flew back and hit the water, falling deep into the liquid even though his energy was propelled into his feet to prevent that.
As Sasuke fell he tumbled across the water head over heels and fell in. He dragged his body up and used his energies to hold him above.
Naruto continued to drift downwards to the bottom of the lake. His eyes remained open and he glanced upwards.
Why? Sasuke...
Naruto snarled and pushed upwards towards the surface. He floated to the surface and lie on his back. His head dropped over to look at Sasuke.
Tsk…my full power Chidori only went that far!
Sasuke's eyes shone with a glint of his naturally cynical nature.
"Naruto!" Sasuke shot up from his crouch and rushed at Naruto who watched him with sad eyes approaching.
"Sasuke…." Naruto had tears in his eyes. "I didn't think you were serious. That's why I used Rasengan to be sure.
Sasuke came in close range as Naruto lied placid in place.
"You're serious." A tear dripped off of Naruto's wet face and into the water. His soaked clothing seemed like it weighed tons.
Naruto rose slowly as Sasuke came in. But he was too slow.
Sasuke grabbed Naruto by the collar and dragged him upwards a foot off the ground. Behind the bedlam Naruto smiled.
Sasuke's hand screamed and Chidori emerged once again. Sasuke was going to use his last shot. The immense amount of energy it took meant that Sasuke couldn't waste another shot. This was it.
Sasuke you were my alter ego…
I did everything you did. I wanted to be you.
Naruto opened his eyes and looked at Sasuke. Sasuke's curse marks had covered his body, meaning that the forbidden power was draining into Sasuke from the seal. Thanks to Sasuke being an obsequious greedy little boy, he received this power from a rouge ninja. At the cost of being consumed by evil he got power. A red energy emerged from Naruto's body.
"You're too late Naruto!" Sasuke smirked and drove his hand into Naruto's heart.
Protecting my friends and never giving up. That's MY modus operandi, my ninja way of life.
Blood splashed into the water as Sasuke pierced into Naruto's heart, instantly killing him.The red energy ceased and Sasuke threw Naruto back into a rock. An evil smile covered Naruto's face as he hit. His whisker-like marks grew back into real whiskers. His nails grew and hardened like iron. His teeth grew into sharp and powerful fangs. Black slits in his new red eyes completed him.
"What!?" Sasuke's proud expression faded as the dead Naruto rose upwards.
The blue skies above the two turned red as a silhouette of the demon fox snarled down at the earth. Trees flashed and burned within seconds and the water of the lake turned a nasty blood red.
"Sasuke! I won't let you leave! Even if I have to kill you and drag you back to the village!" Naruto bellowed across to Sasuke, his voice severely mutated into the demons'."
As Sasuke watched in horror, the demon in the sky laughed.
Naruto charged on all fours at Sasuke and grabbed his wrist. He lunged at Sasuke and dragged him off his feet. With one strong snap of the wrist, he grabbed Sasuke by the throat and threw him head on into the falls. The falls screamed and Naruto watched into delight. The last thing Sasuke saw before he was thrown was the demon's glare. Staring at him, bloody-thirst in his eyes.
"Never again! You'll never live long enough to leave!" Naruto looked up at the sky and roared over and over.
Sasuke lie down in an awkward position on the rocks of the falls, his eyes searched around for it. It was a monster. It was going to kill him.
An enormous crack opened up to the left side of where Sasuke lay. A boulder crashed down inches from his body.
"Come out Sasuke! You cannot hide forever!" Naruto screamed in the direction of the falls, the power of the water shielding Sasuke from his view.
Tsk… I've got to try and be as elusive as possible. He's a monster…
Sasuke bit down on his hand to calm himself and began to crawl towards the right side of the fall opening.
If I can at least catch him off guard. I might have a chance.
"Found you!" Naruto came speeding through the fall opening and smashed into Sasuke, sending him flying out of the falls and into the middle of the lake. Sasuke recovered at quickly as he could and ran upwards to the top of the cliff. Naruto ran back and followed Sasuke up the cliff and bashed Sasuke in the chest, throwing him into an overhand in the rock wall of the valley.
Naruto grabbed Sasuke by the collar and gripped him so he could not move.
"You know what intrigues me Sasuke? How you won't die." Naruto smirked, pulling back his lip and baring his fangs.
"I could rag you all day and you would just stay there." Continued Naruto. Sasuke glared back at him.
"I told you Sasuke! I'm never going to let you leave!" Naruto screamed into Sasuke's face.
"Naruto, among the pandemonium, you still wouldn't know. You don't know what it's like to lose everything when you've been alone from the start! I had bonds that were destroyed! You didn't! Naruto!" Sasuke screamed back at Naruto.
"You're right Sasuke." Said a now human Naruto. A lump in his throat kept him from continuing. The anarchy of the village. No government to help Sasuke in the first place. His clan would still be alive if they had come sooner.
"But you know Sasuke, that's why I want to help you. You're the only friend I knew. You were just like me, alone. I know what that is, and… I wanted to talk to you so much sooner. But you were so popular; I decided to take you on as a rival. I'm sorry Sasuke."
"You're wrong Naruto. You're going to die and nothing will change that." Sasuke looked in horror as Naruto brought back such painful thoughts. His clan. The Uchiha clan. Sasuke was an avenger and his goal was to kill the man who killed his clan. His brother. He couldn't let Naruto get in his way again. It was his proclivity to get in his way. He would not allow it again.
Naruto looked at Sasuke with a soft, sad stare. The flesh on Naruto's legs peeled and burned from the lava produced by Sasuke's recently failed volcanic jutsu. He held a blood stained hand out to Sasuke. His voice carried a strong note of compassion, Naruto's feelings of truly caring.
"Sasuke, please. I want to help you." He reached out to help Sasuke up, his knees weakening and bringing himself closer to the ground with every ounce of strength he used.
Sasuke waited a moment and suddenly drew back, holding his fist against his chest, out of Naruto's reach. He stood up out of his refuge and walked in front of Naruto, who was so tired that he finally lay on the ground with one hand in front of him. He struggled back onto his knees, his chest heaving. Thin lines of blood trickled down Naruto's neck and arms.
Sasuke shot Naruto a cold glare and threw himself at Naruto, sending the two careening off of the perilously high cliff. As they fell, Sasuke grabbed a hold of Naruto's jacket and wrapped his legs around Naruto's neck to keep him falling head first. Moments before they hit, Sasuke uttered a final good bye message to Naruto.
"I'm sorry"
The ground quivered as Naruto slammed into the ground head first, straight down. Sasuke stepped back from Naruto, unharmed. The Herculean strength that had possessed Naruto, failed to protect him. Even after the demonic, inhuman rampage he had gone through. He couldn't win.
Their sensei had once stood before the Great Hero's Monument and carved a saying underneath his best friend's name.
Those who do wrong in this world are scum but those who abandon their friends are even worse than scum.
As Naruto's life quickly drained away, he tumbled into the water, floating and drifting from Sasuke.
"Am…I scum then?" Naruto washed up onto the far off embankment. He felt guilt run through his veins. He wondered if he should have been a stoolie and told the others about Sasuke's intentions. No. The fight proved something. Sasuke really did choose the darkest path.
Ounces of life remained in Naruto as the world faded into darkness. Within seconds, Sasuke had transported himself in lightning speed in the direction of Naruto. He bent down and stared down at Naruto's pale face. Rain poured down and had already drenched the two. Sasuke removed his headband and took out his knife. With one slash of the metal, a deep scar was formed into the plate. This signified the breaking of one from his village. The headband dropped next to Naruto. Sasuke slowly rose and turned towards the forest path. He walked towards it, gripping his broken shoulder. A tear fell to the ground and Sasuke looked back with a blank expression over his face. He turned back, falling into the darkness that was evil. Sasuke was gone. Naruto failed.
He lay on the ground, incapable of movement. He wallowed in his remorse and loathed his failure.
All this talk about getting Sasuke back. I promised Sakura I'd bring him back!
Naruto's eyes glazed over and he felt himself slip in and out of consciousness. With one final breath he let the darkness fall over him, consuming his mind.
One hour later, Naruto felt someone pick up his body and heard the clatter as someone picked up Sasuke's headband. They laid it across Naruto's chest and they carried him away from the remains of a once-known battlefield. Naruto's eyes only managed to open a little as he heard several other ninja close in.
"Kakashi-sensai?" Naruto looked up at his sensai's face, his joints loosening and unstiffening as he realized it was Kakashi that picked him up.
Several ninja waited for Kakashi.
"Naruto….sleep. This is not a time for talking. Your ribs are broken and so is your arm." Kakashi scolded Naruto's lack of regard for his energy levels. "Moving will kill you."
Naruto put his head back down and fell asleep, his limbs going limp. Kakashi jumped into the trees with the other ninja, Naruto on his back. He puts Naruto's arms around his neck and held onto his legs, gliding through the trees while listening to the other ninja's reports.
"We have located the four other genin sent out on the mission, and their Chuunin squad leader. Three of them are being treated with injuries, Nara Shikamaru has a broken finger, Rock Lee is back in rehab because of energy usage, Inuzuka Kiba has a deep nearly fatal kunai wound to the stomach….but the other two…we're unsure if they will survive. Hyuuga Neji is on the edge of complete heart failure and Akimichi Chouji…took the forbidden pills and has sustained extreme internal damage."
"I understand…" Kakashi acknowledged the med. Ninja's report and split off from the other ninja, heading towards Konoha.
The two arrived in the village minutes later. Two medical ninja approached Kakashi and took Naruto, placing him on a makeshift stretcher and hurrying him off to the village hospital. Kakashi started back towards the Hokage's office, for a quick meeting.
The medical ninja rushed into the hospital with Naruto on the stretcher. They slowed down and brought him down a hallway towards an available room. They carried pulled him off the stretcher and onto the bed. They checked his name off a clipboard and left the room, summoning a nurse to the room.
She helped Naruto bandage his wounds, wrapping nearly his entire stomach in medical wrap, along with his forehead and neck. His headband lay on the table next to him. The windows were open, no wind speeding through like normal. The sky had a gloomy gray tint.
Naruto finished taping up his hands and lie back on the bed, resting his head against the white pillow. He looked at Sasuke's battered headband next to his.
"I'll be back in a few hours to bring you some painkillers. For now, rest is your best chance of healing." The nurse slid the door closed as she made her exit.
Naruto looked up at the ceiling and let his thoughts rest. He wondered what he would tell Sakura. She loved Sasuke…more than anything. She had stood up to him to try and keep him from running away…and he had knocked her unconscious. She pleaded with Naruto to get Sasuke back. Naruto had promised that he would bring him back, no matter what! He was a liar!
Naruto lie in his depression for about ten minutes before a knock sounded on his door.
The nurse stepped in and smiled.
"Well, I said I'd be back in a few hours once I finished with the other patients, but you have a visitor who requested I escort her to your room. Your very lucky to have such a pretty girl that cares about you so much." The nurse smiled again and stepped out of the room, allowing the visitor to come in. The nurse stepped back into the hallway and started off towards her other patients.
Naruto hadn't had the energy to turn his head to look at the visitor.
"Naruto?' Sakura approached the side of Naruto's bed.
"Sakura…I.." Naruto winced and sat up in his bed.
"Naruto, you shouldn't sit up in your condition, the nurse says you have a broken rib and all sorts of bruises and cuts."
"I'm sorry Sakura…" Naruto felt a tear well up in his eye. "I tried…I really did…"
"No…he's really..?" Sakura looked over to Naruto's headband, then to Sasuke's. She saw the cut running through Sasuke's headband. "Sasuke…why?" She whispered to herself.
Naruto let his tear die down and smiled.
"But it's okay Sakura really! It is! I'll never stop, never stop to find him! I told you I'd bring him back and I vow to that!" Naruto tried his best to reassure his friend.
"…" Sakura hugged Naruto, letting tears run down her face. "I know you tried, I really do. I'm sorry."