It was rasengan against chidori over again. Panting heavily, Sasuke looked across to his former teammate. The blonde was on all fours, not far away from Sasuke, gasping for breath desperately. Naruto coughed and crawled towards Sasuke. Neither of them had much chakra left, but Naruto wasn't giving up. He painfully dragged himself closer to Sasuke, staring into his dark eyes. Naruto knew it was futile, he couldn't compare with the power Orochimaru was offering, but something urged him to carry on. His breathing evening out, Sasuke stood up, smirking as he watched Naruto inch towards him. He stood up, trying not to look into those cerulean eyes. As Sasuke turned around, prepared to leave, he felt something grab his wrist. Surprised, he turned around to see Naruto clutching desperately to his arm. "D-don't think…you're g-getting… away that easily…" he panted. Sasuke snatched his arm back, causing Naruto to fall backward. "Dobe, you can't stop me in that state. I win." He said coldly. Sasuke moved, only to be grabbed by Naruto again. "Your…n-not leaving…teme." Naruto gasped. Sasuke looked down at Naruto.
"Get off!" he hissed. Naruto thought for a minute. Sasuke was right; there wasn't much he could do to stop Sasuke now. "I'll… let you g-go…if you… give me one thing." Naruto panted. Sasuke ignored him, trying to shake him off his arm. Getting no response, Naruto continued, trying to level out his breathing. "Please, one thing." He whispered quietly.
"What?" Sasuke snapped. He had no time to be playing stupid games with the dobe; he had to obtain power to kill his brother. Naruto looked at Sasuke with the most serious look he had ever seen the dobe produce. "P-please… kiss me Sasuke. Kiss me like you love me. Let me… pretend, just for a moment, t-that you love me." Sasuke laughed coldly and turned his back on Naruto. The blonde threw himself desperately in front of Sasuke. "Please?" he begged. Sasuke recoiled slightly. Naruto, the loud mouth idiot, begging pitifully. He pulled Naruto to his feet and looked into his blue eyes. There was not even a flicker of doubt there; Naruto really wanted this. Sasuke leaned closer, closing the gap between them, and kissed Naruto. Naruto mewled slightly and deepened their kiss desperately. When they broke apart, Naruto blinked several times, trying to stop the tears flowing. "I…j-just want you to know…Sasuke…I…" Sasuke pressed his hand over Naruto's mouth.
"Don't say it, dobe. I don't want to hear this." Sasuke said. 'Does he have any idea how difficult he's making this for me?' Naruto pulled Sasuke's hand away. "I know…y-you don't care…about me but I love you…sasu…sas…" Naruto's breathing was getting worse as he fell; Sasuke caught him and put him on the floor gently. "Naruto?" he asked worriedly, as he watched his struggle to breathe.
"I know… I s-said you could… go but… p-please… I'm…s-scared Sasuke." Naruto said clutching at his shirt. Sasuke sensed Kakashi was close and this was his only opportunity. He could leave the dobe now, leave him to Kakashi and he would probably be fine. Naruto didn't seem to be able to breathe, as he grabbed Sasuke's shirt, making slight choking noises. "I-I love you Sasuke… I always have…p-please don't…l-leave me!" the blonde stopped thrashing and his grip on Sasuke was weakening. "I love you Naruto! Did you hear that dobe? I love you too!" Sasuke said loudly. Naruto nodded slightly as he completely let go of Sasuke. "D-dobe? Are you okay?" he said worriedly. Naruto didn't move. "Naruto! Don't fool around, your scaring me!" Sasuke said sharply. Then he noticed it; Naruto wasn't breathing. "No! Don't do this, you can't… you…don't leave me Naruto!" he cried into Naruto's chest. Sasuke was roughly pushed off Naruto and he closed his eyes slightly as a bright light erupted from somewhere. He scrambled up and looked over to where Naruto was. He saw the hokage Tsunade, leaning over Naruto and her chakra brightly illuminating her hands while she was pressing them over Naruto's chest. Sasuke was pulled to his feet by who he noticed was Kakashi. "He going to be okay isn't he?" he asked worriedly. He noticed Tsunade had stopped her chakra flow; this could be either good, or really bad. Tsunade stood up and turned to Kakashi. "Take Naruto and meet the medic nin I have sent after us. They should be about halfway by now." Kakashi nodded, picked up the blonde, and set off towards Kohona. "What did you do, bastard?" Sasuke frowned at her, not understanding. "We were fighting…" he mumbled. Tsunade snorted.
"Fighting? You seem fine. Naruto had two broken ribs, one of them which punctured his right lung. Were you trying to kill him?" she snapped. Sasuke's memory wandered back to when he was fighting Naruto. The blonde, from the start, had seemed reluctant to hurt him. Sasuke ignored this and carried on. He winced, remembering his final attack; he had used some chakra to increase his power and he had kicked Naruto roughly in the stomach, sending him flying in the opposite direction. Sasuke recalled the awful crunching noise and the small squeak of surprise Naruto made as Sasuke launched his final assault. "If Naruto didn't have the kyuubi, he would be dead by now. It took a lot of my chakra to help him breathe again and I'm not sure if I could stop you." She pointed I the direction of the sound village. "Its up to you. Leave if you want, but if you go now you will never be allowed in Kohona again. That means you would never see Naruto ever again." Her final sentence got the desired effect. 'Damn it! She can't seriously expect me to go back with her! This is my only chance I need to kill Itachi…but…' Sasuke guiltily remembered the last words Naruto said to him. "I-I love you Sasuke… I always have…p-please don't…l-leave me!" Sasuke felt something inside him snap. Forgetting he was in front of the hokage, he broke down crying loudly. "He was so scared... he had no idea what was happening…it was all my fault…" Tsunade looked at the Uchiha sympathetically. When he calmed down, he wiped his eyes furiously, mentally cursing himself for letting himself slip. As he stood up, Tsunade spoke. "Come back, Sasuke. Naruto needs you and I think you need him." Sasuke nodded as he glanced one last time in the direction of the sound village. As he walked back to Kohona with Tsunade, somehow, killing his brother didn't seem to be important anymore.