Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

AN: I haven't seen this type done before, so I guess this is an original idea. I'm still not going to say it doesn't exist elsewhere though.

Naruto, panting heavily, stared across the raging base of the waterfall at the boy he considered a brother. Sasuke, also breathing heavily, stood in his cursed seal level two form glaring at the blonde.

"I won't go back until I've gained the power to kill him!" Sasuke roared, dark chakra forming on his finger tips.

Naruto growled. "You're coming back to Konoha, even if I have to break your legs!"

"We'll see," Sasuke said. "Kuroi Chidori!" The raven haired boy leapt at Naruto from across the river.

"Rasengan!" Naruto yelled out, jumping at the other boy.

The two powerful attacks met each other halfway. The energies mixed and massive black sphere with white lines running through it, like a digital circuit, formed and expanded to monstrous sizes. Then the orb exploded in a bright white light, blinding the one person watching.

When the light's remains cleared, there was no sign of either of the boys.

"Leader-sama will not like this," said one side of a strange being.

It looked half plant and half man. The human half had green hair and was again divided. One side was black, the other white. The black side had a solid yellow orb in place of its eye and no discernable features, where the white side had angular features and a somewhat normal, yet equally yellow, eye.

"Madara-sama will not be pleased either," the voice seemed to originate with the black side of the body.

"What should we do then?" the white side asked.

"We report it anyway."

"Wait, I see someone."

Sure enough, a man arrived just over the falls. His silver hair seemed to defy gravity, and he had his hitai-ate slung over his left eye. He wore the standard blue shinobi outfit of Konoha, with the issued officer's vest. (The vest is the same for both chuunin and jounin.) His hands were covered by metal backed fingerless gloves. His pants were bandaged at the shin, the standard sandals covering the bandages. At his feet was a small pug nosed dog in a blue cape.

"We should let him know of his students fates," the black face said.

"Yes, we should. Then we can report to Leader-sama and Madara-sama," the white side responded.

The plant creature sunk into the ground, only to rise up behind the silver haired nin.

"You are Sharingan no Kakashi," the black side said.

"I am. And you are?" Kakashi asked. "Judging from your cloak, you are Akatsuki."

"I'm Zetsu. And I am a part of Akatsuki. I have information on the two shinobi that you are no doubt after," the plant man said.

"Tell me then," Kakashi said. "I will decide afterwards if you lie."

"Very well. The youths were fighting here. They fought for some time, neither gaining an advantage over the other. They each used their best attack. The attacks reacted to each other and the boys were engulfed in a large black and white light. When the light cleared the boys were gone," Zetsu finished.

Kakashi lowered his head. "I feel that what you say is true. I shall return to Konoha and inform the Hokage."

"Speed be with you Kakashi," the white side said.

After the one eyed ninja vanished, both Zetsu sides sighed.

"He looked especially tasty."

"It's a shame he got away."

"We need to report to the others now."

Zetsu sank into the ground and took off for his leaders.

XxXxX

Naruto and Sasuke were blown back into the statues of Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama.

"Just give up dobe," Sasuke gasped. He was no longer using his curse seal.

"I never give up. That's my," Naruto responded brokenly, "nindo."

"Naruto, Sasuke! There you are," a voice called from the top of the cliffs. Standing there was Sakura and Kakashi. "If you two don't hurry, we'll be late… What happened down there?"

The explosion had done great damage to the walls of the valley. There were chunks ripped out of the walls, large fragments standing up out of the water.

"Fine dobe, you win," Sasuke said. "Just help me up there."

"Sure thing Sasuke," Naruto smiled. He jumped over to the other side of the river and grabbed Sasuke. Then the two jumped back across the river to where Sakura and Kakashi were climbing down a rope.

When the two non-battered shinobi made it to the bottom they ran to the damaged two.

"Naruto, where did you get that horrendous orange jumpsuit? And why do you two look so horrible?" Sakura asked.

"Hey!" Naruto exclaimed tiredly. "Lay off the jumpsuit."

With that he fell over, unconscious. Shortly afterward, Sasuke fell over as well.

Sakura looked at Kakashi. "Sensei, they're going to be really heavy to take up the cliff."

Kakashi nodded knowingly. He grabbed Naruto, who he judged to be the heavier of the two, and slung him over his shoulders. "You get Sasuke."

Sakura nodded and did the same with Sasuke and climbed the rope after Kakashi.

XxXxX

Naruto and Sasuke woke almost in unison. They were in a single tent in a small campsite. The darkness had fallen outside. They couldn't see much past the trees. In the center of the camp was a small fire. The boys clambered out of the tent and grabbed a seat by the fire.

"Oh, you're awake," Sakura said as she entered the campsite with a pair of rabbits. "That's good. You were out of it for three days. You must have been exhausted."

"Yeah, we were," Naruto said with his trademark grin.

Sakura smiled and went off to a corner of the camp to skin the rabbits she had.

Sasuke leaned over to Naruto and whispered, "Something seems off about Sakura."

"I know. She hasn't called you Sasuke-kun, or asked you out on a date yet," Naruto whispered back.

"No, I mean, she's actually some work," Sasuke snapped, quietly.

"Oh, right," Naruto said.

"But what you said is also a good point too," Sasuke agreed.

Just then, Kakashi entered the site. He clutched a spear in his right hand, a medium sized boar over his shoulders. "Oh, good. You're up." He dropped the boar near Sakura. He leaned the spear against a tree and took a seat near the fire. "We had to cancel the mission because you two were out. We are returning to Konoha. We're about a week out."

"A week?" Sasuke asked. "How far away are we?"

"We're about two miles south of the Valley of the End," Kakashi said.

"Then we're only a couple hours away from home," Sasuke said.

Naruto, however, wasn't paying attention to that. He was staring intently at his sensei's face. Or what he could see of it. The hitai-ate was no longer slung over the left eye, but rather situated in the appropriate spot on the forehead.

"Sensei?" Naruto asked, cutting off Kakashi's response to Sasuke's question.

"Yes Naruto?" Kakashi responded.

"Where is your Sharingan at?" the blonde asked.

Sasuke looked at Naruto in confusion before turning back to see Kakashi was indeed without a Sharingan.

Kakashi looked at Naruto with a confused expression upon his face. "What's a Sharingan?"