Well here you all are. I hope you guys find this an epic battle. I thought it was but I want to hear your guys' opinions. Tell me what you think and enjoy

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"Rasengan!"

"Chidori!"

Their attacks collided with the most unbelievable force that it knocked both of them away after a split second, sending them flying in opposite directions.

Sasuke got out of the water first, 'Damn! And that was at full power too! It didn't really seem to affect her at all though.'

He saw her rise out of the waters and glare at him.

'But her attack.' He thought, 'It was so powerful just like yesterday. It was almost as if . . . she was really trying to kill me'

Minako grinned manically.

'This is insane. I can't just go at her with another Chidori either though. I can only use two maximum. Dammit Mina. That look in your eyes. You really wouldn't think twice about killing me. Would you?'

Minako crouched at the ready.

'It's all that she can think about right now.' He felt a lump in his throat, 'No. I promised myself long ago that I would never cry again. So why? Why?!'

Minako came at him with insane speed and punched him once more in the jaw, sending him hovering in the air as she came at him again. Sasuke couldn't help but to think about her.

'Mina. You were always alone. All by yourself. No family or friends to comfort you. I understand that pain. When I lost my family, I suddenly knew everything you felt. All the pain and sorrow that you went through from the beginning.'

She kicked him in the ribs.

'I always wanted to say something to you. But the time never came. You always had your heart set on becoming better than me and I always thought I needed to become stronger to kill my brother.'

She punched him again.

'We were completely different, you and I. From the beginning you were my rival and when we were placed together in a cell seven, nothing changed. You always strived to become better than me and I was always the asshole who kept trying to put you down.'

Another punch.

'But you never backed down. I guess I've always admired that about you. Your strength to become better than me made me strive to keep ahead of you but you were always stronger than me. I admit that. You were always stronger because you never let others get to you. You always strived to prove everyone wrong. Even me.'

Minako grasped Sasuke's shirt and smirked at him, "See you in hell, Uchiha."

Sasuke's Sharingan deactivated, "Mina. Please Mina" he rasped out, "You don't have to do this. I'm your friend. Remember?"

"Ha!" she laughed, "And here I never thought I'd hear you beg!"

"Mina" he tried again, "This isn't you. Minako Uzumaki would never do this! You're not her! You're an imposter!"

Minako dropped him and slapped him across the face, her eyes turned red like the fox's. Sasuke stumbled for a second but Minako grabbed him again and growled in his face.

"If you think I'm a completely different person then you obviously never knew who I was in the first place, Sasuke"

Sasuke's eyes widened as Minako's eyes started to water, "No one ever saw"

She loosened her grip on him, "No one ever saw the real me. Not even my closest friend. I considered you my friend Sasuke. But you never saw me. Not as a friend and certainly not as an equal."

Sasuke carefully placed a hand on hers that gripped his shirt, "Mina. I DO see you as a friend. You are my closest friend too. I just never wanted to admit it" he gently rubbed her knuckles to soothe her, "That and I never really wanted to get close to anyone after the death of my family. I never wanted to feel that pain again. Because what if I lose that new person as well?"

Minako watched his facial features cautiously but let him continue.

"But I failed. I did become close with someone. I found a new family and should have realized what I had before I ruined it with my cold words. Kakashi made it all come clear for me. I do have a family still. I do have friends."

Minako's grip loosened more as she listened to him.

"I may hate my brother, Mina. But I suppose that you were always like a sister to me. And I could never hate you. I love you Mina."

That's when Minako cracked.

'What?! He . . . he loves me?! He thinks of me like a sister?! I'm part of his family?'

She shivered in frustration. She honestly had no idea of what to do.

'Kill him' the fox whispered to her, 'He's lying. You should know this. He's just lying to get you to lower your guard. Kill him!'

The fox sent this red angry chakra through her chakra system forcibly, causing her to become in pain. Minako suddenly let go of Sasuke and gripped her stomach in pain, "GHEEHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" she screamed as the red chakra started to become visible around her.

Sasuke backed away in fright, 'What's going on?! Why is she suddenly in pain?'

He activated his Sharingan and he was terrified at what he saw. Around her, swirling in anger was the Nine-tail's chakra and it formed itself around her like a cloak. Sasuke shivered in fear,"No way"

'The Demon Fox. It's taking control of her?'

By this time, she stopped screaming but the fox's chakra formed a cloak with red chakra fox ears and a tail. Her eyes became larger and more demonic, her teeth became fangs and her nails were suddenly claws.

"Grrrrrrrhhhhhhnnnnnnnnnnn" she growled.

'I'm screwed'

"Mina" he asked her but she only bared her fangs at him in warning, "Mina" he tried again.

She arched her back in defense, "Get away" she growled.

"No" he breathed out, "Mina you're my friend and I will not let you go. You hear me?"

She snarled at him as he stepped closer.

"You are a kunoichi of Konoha! You once declared to me and everyone you met that you would one day become the Hokage. Where is that Minako now? Huh?! Hiding behind the fox like a lost little girl!?"

She was ready to attack when Sasuke reached in his pocket and brought out her Leaf Headband she left laying on her desk at her apartment. Her eyes widened in recognition.

"You see this Mina?!" he waved it in front of her, "This is YOUR headband. Don't you remember what you said to me yesterday about it?!"

She was silent so he continued.

"You said that putting your headband on is a testament of fighting on equal terms as a Shinobi. Well I acknowledge that you are my equal. Will you not acknowledge that to me any longer?"

He threw it to her and she caught it expertly.

"Don't you remember who gave you that headband? You loved this thing even more because of it. Iruka would be disappointed in you if you didn't where that headband, Mina. He'd be disappointed if you left."

Minako stared at the headband in her hands as she remembered when Iruka gave the headband to her.

(Flashback)

Minako had just pulverized Mizuki with over a hundred shadow clones. Iruka was leaning against a tree looking as proud as a father would be at their kid. It made Minako so happy to see him look at her like that.

"Minako. Come here" Iruka smiled, "I have something to give you"

Minako trotted over to him in barely contained excitement, 'What does he want to give me? A hug?!'

Just the mere thought of any contact or nice words made her happy.

She got up to him and leaned down since he couldn't move yet. After all, a large Shuriken to the back can do quite a bit of damage.

"Close your eyes, kid"

She did as she was told. But something felt weird. She felt him take off her goggles and put something else around her head.

"Alright. You can open your eyes now."

She opened her eyes to look up at her sensei but something was off about him.

'He . . . he's not wearing his headband! But! But that means!'

"Congratulations, Minako. You graduate!" he grinned at her, "And to celebrate, I have a surprise! We're going out for ramen tonight!"

The academy teacher wasn't prepared for Minako to pounce on him and hug him crying, "Oh thank you sensei! Thank you thank you thank you!"

Iruka laughed and ruffled her dark red hair, the same as her mother's, "You deserve it, Minako. You improved wonderfully and I couldn't be more proud of you"

Minako cried in his chest, 'I promise Iruka Sensei! I won't let you down! I'll become the greatest ninja in the world! I swear it!'

(End of Flashback)

The red chakra around Minako's body dissipated and her eyes turned back to their glorious and bright blue. She squeezed the headband in her hands and closed her eyes.

"I'm sorry Sasuke" she whispered.

At first, the Uchiha thought that she had finally come to her senses until she looked up at him and frowned emotionlessly.

She tied the headband around her forehead, "I'll wear this headband one last time to fight you. But I'm not going back to Konoha."

Sasuke was getting desperate, "But why not!? We can help you!"

"Sasuke, every single one of the villagers hate me. There's only a few people in Konoha who don't. I realize that some people care but I can't stay there. The Akatsuki are after me, mainly your brother. They want to capture the demon inside of me. They want to kill me. And to stand my ground against them, to have any hope of standing a chance against them in battle, I need power. And I seriously doubt that Konoha will just give me that power. The elders were completely against me becoming a ninja at all in the first place."

She brushed her hair out of her eyes and looked into Sasuke's desperate ones, "I'm sorry but I just can't. You have to understand."

"But Mina. Then let me come with you"

"No." she shook her head, "I won't allow that. You've just realized that revenge isn't the answer to your problems. You can't go to Orochimaru because he'll just steal your body. If I go to Orochimaru, he'll give me the power to fight the Akatsuki. All I have to do in return is become an experiment. Big deal!"

"It is a big deal Mina! I can't lose you!"

Minako's eyes widened in their shock but she looked away. She could feel the fox's power surging in her again, claiming to overtake her if she didn't end this fight quickly.

"Enough Sasuke. Let's just end this" the fox's chakra overtook her body once more.

"Mina" Sasuke gulped, 'You really believe that there is no other option.'

He watched her, or was it the fox, created the Rasengan in her palm.

'I guess I'll just have to make you believe then' he felt the third tomoe appear in his Sharingan.

'You don't have to leave Mina. Don't leave!'

He charged up is Chidori, feeling the curse mark make its way around his body, 'Shit. I've used too much chakra!'

He felt the power of the curse mark surge through him as he powered his Chidori, the chakra lightning chirping wildly like many birds at once.

Minako charged at him, "Rasengan!"

Sasuke launched at her, "Chidori!"

They came at each other at lightning speed and once they met, Sasuke managed to land the attack at her forehead protector, slashing a line through it, while Minako collided the Rasengan to Sasuke's shoulder.

Their power collided together as one and formed a blinding whiteness around them. It felt like forever that they were in midair like this, just staring at each other. They both held guilt in their eyes.

'Minako.' Sasuke let the tears fall, 'I'm so sorry'

'Sasuke' Minako felt her own tears slide down her face, 'Forgive me'

When it was over, Minako was standing over an unconscious Sasuke, somehow thinking and hoping that he would get up and start fighting her again. But he didn't.

"Sasuke" she whispered.

There was no response.

"Sasuke" she tried again but was stopped when it started to rain. She looked up at the sky and let the heavens cry down on her in pain. She felt so horrible but also so relieved. Now she had no one standing in her way. She had to leave now.

She knew that Sasuke had injured her pretty bad but she was already healing. Sasuke on the other hand had a large rip in his shirt and blood leaking out of his right shoulder.

'He'll be fine' the fox growled, 'Someone's coming. You better get going.'

"Yeah" she agreed but didn't expect her headband to randomly fall off and land next to Sasuke. She stared at the headband, the fond memories filling her up. She knew she had to leave though before others showed up.

However, she carefully got down on her knees, staring down at her friend.

'Sasuke' she thought, 'I swear I'll come back one day but not until I'm ready. Not until I kill every last one of the Akatsuki with my bare hands.'

She gently leaned down and kissed his cheek before standing back up and walking away.

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Kakashi and Pakkun were racing through the forest to get to Minako and Sasuke. But then it started to rain.

'Dammit!' thought Kakashi, "Pakkun! It's raining! Can you still hold the scent?!"

The small ninja dog nodded, "Yes! We're okay! Really close this way!"

When they finally reached the cliff, the two of them leaped off and down to the shore of the Valley.

Kakashi frowned under his mask and sighed regretfully seeing Sasuke alone unconscious.

"We're too late"

He walked over with Pakkun and leaned down to the Uchiha. He looked as if he had cried.

"Why did this have to happen?" Kakashi asked himself as Pakkun sniffed the extra headband beside Sasuke.

He looked up to Kakashi, "It's Minako's."

Kakashi closed his eyes and lifted Sasuke up in his arms along with the headband, "I couldn't make it in time. I'm so sorry Sasuke. Knowing you, you were probably very stubborn if she drove you this far. To this extent."

Kakashi looked out to where Minako must have run off, 'Minako'

The rain then stopped and Kakashi looked up at the sky

"It's stopped." Said Pakkun, "But the way it's been pouring, the trail is long gone now. At least by scent that is. We're better off getting Sasuke back to Konoha hospital than chasing after Minako."

Kakashi agreed and threw Sasuke on his back gently and headed out back to Konoha.

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There was blackness but since Sasuke could see and tell it was dark, he knew that he was finally awake.

'I must have blacked out'

He opened his eyes, letting all of the memories flood back to him. He was hoping he had just been dreaming.

'Why am I on Kakashi's back?'

"Master Kakashi" he rasped out.

Kakashi leaned his leaned back a bit to hear him, "Where's Minako?" Sasuke drowsily asked.

Kakashi didn't answer.

A few medic ninja can in front of them, running along the branches of the trees with Kakashi, "Kakashi! How's Sasuke?!"

"He has a shoulder wound but it's not bleeding too much."

"And Minako Uzumaki? Where is she?" the medic Nin asked.

Kakashi was silent and that gave them their answer. Minako had left the village.

Kakashi sighed, "What of the other Genin?"

Sasuke perked up. He wanted to know how his comrades were doing. Were they okay?

"Lady Hokage dispatched the medical corps one and two! They found them all in various places all injured. They performed simple first aid and took them back to Konoha."

"How are they?" asked Sasuke's sensei.

The medic ninja looked regretful, "Shikamaru Nara suffered minor injuries. Kiba Inuzuka took some deep lacerations but his life is not in any danger. But then there's Neji Hyuga and Choji Akamichi. Those two are both fatally wounded. Their fate is unknown at the moment."

Sasuke closed his eyes, 'Everyone.' He thought before passing out again.

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Minako walked through the Sound Territory's forest, not even really sure about where she was supposed to go. She just followed a dirt trail that she happened to come by. She knew it was stupid but what other choice did she have? No one was around to tell her where to go.

That's what she thought though. In the trees, hidden from view, two pairs of eyes watches her.

One was Zetsu from the Akatsuki and the other was Kabuto, the loyal servant of Orochimaru.

White Zetsu asked, "Shouldn't we grab her before Orochimaru gets her?"

Black Zetsu frowned, "We do need her but in the state she is in right now, unstable, and we do not know how powerful she has become. Remember that Orochimaru's men gave her that pill? We do not know of its effects and we cannot engage her in battle alone with Kabuto watching as well. He is mysterious. We don't' even know his power."

"I guess you're right. But when will we be able to capture her?" White Zetsu smiled.

"The Nine-tails Jinchuriki is too powerful, especially when the fox is so easily let out as we just saw. Odds are that Orochimaru will only tame her, anyway. If we wait then perhaps the girl will be tamed enough to come to us without any trouble. Besides, it's not like we don't have other Jinchuriki to go after."

"I suppose you're right" White Zetsu agreed as always as they sunk into the tree they were on.

Meanwhile Minako kept walking slowly to the unknown path until someone familiar came across her, "You know you're going to wrong way right?"

Minako whipped around to be face to face with Kabuto.

She glared at him, forgetting that he was Orochimaru's main right hand man.

Kabuto smirked down at her, "So Sasuke refused huh? I'm honestly surprised that you came though. I thought for sure that Sasuke would have been the one to be converted."

Minako looked away, "Yeah well you were wrong."

Kabuto smirked, "How about we get you to Orochimaru's lair now? We'll discuss the terms of your stay there."

Minako nodded in acceptance, "Right"

'Did I really do the right thing?' she asked herself.

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Sasuke sat in his hospital bed staring down at Minako's headband that Kakashi had given him. He felt wrong.

He felt defeated and beaten. He had never cried before after Itachi had murdered his whole clan but somehow watching Minako leave like this made him suffer to no end.

He wanted her back.

(Flashback)

Minako showed no emotion, "I was useless in Konoha. I didn't have any power to protect myself from danger like the Akatsuki. But now I do and I owe it all to Lord Orochimaru. I'm going to him."

(End of Flashback)

(Flashback)

"Please promise me you'll bring her back. I couldn't do it. I couldn't stop her. She wouldn't listen to me. She's wrapped in some sort of mindset that no one cares about her anymore. She seemed pretty set on leaving and that we wouldn't care. Sasuke . . . Please you have to bring her back."

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He opened his eyes again to stare into Sakura's eyes, "I swear Sakura. I will bring her back even if it kills me. You guys are the only family I have left now after all. I won't let Minako go. I swear it."

(End of Flashback)

"Sasuke!" the said boy turned hearing his name but winced slightly, his shoulder wound still bothering him being all bandaged and all.

Sasuke tried to show no emotion but was actually pretty happy to see his squad captain, "Shikamaru"

"So" Shikamaru started, "Minako wouldn't come back huh?"

Sasuke looked away, "No. She's gone."

Suddenly the door opened and Sasuke wasn't ready for Sakura to be standing there with the Fifth Hokage.

"Sakura" Sasuke greeted plainly.

The pink haired girl looked sad. She knew what had happened but she didn't blame Sasuke for it. But Sasuke did blame himself.

"You were badly wounded, Uchiha" the Hokage frowned, "That shoulder wound Minako gave you was pretty good but not deep enough to kill. She must have held back."

Sasuke said nothing but stared back at Minako's headband in sorrow.

"Sakura" Sasuke felt as if he had to say something to her. Anything, "I'm sorry"

Sakura pulled a fake smile, "What are you talking about silly?" she went over to the hospital room window, "Man look at you! You're a mess!"

Sasuke repeated which was something he hardly ever did, "I'm sorry"

Sakura opened the curtains, "You should open the curtains a bit. See how beautiful it is outside?"

"Sakura!" he stopped her, forcing her to look at him, "I meant what I said. I will get her back. I swear it. I will."

"Sasuke" Sakura kept her gaze away.

"I swear it Sakura. Like Minako always said now it's my turn to pass it on. I will never go back on my word. Because that's my Ninja way."

Sakura teared up, "Sasuke." She smiled suddenly with determination, surprising Sasuke all the more, "Well you're going to have to wait a while."

'What?'

"Because next time I'm coming with you"

Sasuke had the urge to smile but willed it down. He was not going to ruin his cold reputation yet in front of all of these people.

When everyone left, Sasuke was alone on the bed with Minako's headband in his hands. He laid on his back thinking, 'Sorry Sakura but I just can't afford to wait too long. Who knows what that creep Orochimaru could be doing to Minako?'

All of a sudden there was a loud thud outside and it felt like an earthquake, the whole hospital shook.

Immediately reacting out of instinct, Sasuke jumped up out of the bed to see what was going on only to fall back on the bed in pain.

"Well if it isn't the infamous Sasuke Uchiha?"

Sasuke gawked at him. This old man was sitting on top of a giant toad's head!

"Wait" he said, "You're that old guy that went with Minako to get the Fifth Hokage. The one who showed up to face my brother and rescue Minako form the Akatsuki a few weeks ago!"

Jiraiya smirked, "That's the one! I'm none other than the famous Jiraiya! The Toad sage and one of the Legendary Sanin!"

Sasuke blinked, "Doesn't Minako always call you pervy-sage?"

Jiraiya glared, "Now don't you get started on that either, kid! I'm a respected man and I deserve proper manners!"

"Right" Sasuke leaned back on the headboard of the hospital bed, "So what do you want with me exactly?"

Jiraiya smiled, "I've come to offer you a deal."

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R&R