Hello and welcome to Chapter 7! This was my last chapter before my two year hiatus. Everything after this will be new material. This is a bit of a filler chapter. Next Chapter is the long awaited altercation!

Thanks to everyone that favorited, subscribed, or reviewed the old version of this story! I really appreciate it!

Naruto was caged. He was trapped and enslaved, forced to follow the every whim of his captor the second he saw a glimpse of those crimson, wheeled eyes. He was stripped of his will daily. He was forced away from the friends he has come to know as family so he can waste away in a cold dark cell.

But most of all... he was bored as hell.

The chakra-suppressor shackles left him daydreaming, and making faces with his food as his only form of entertainment. Sometimes, he would play games with himself, seeing how fast he could take off his shoes and put them back on.

His new record was 6 seconds.

Granted, sometimes he would count a little slower when he realized he wouldn't beat his previous record.

The past few days had been lonely. He hadn't seen Karin since he had tried to talk her into escaping with him. He had no idea how he would live with himself if he had gotten her in trouble. Sasuke would come, sure, but the bastard would only walk in, drop off his food, and leave before Naruto could get a word in. That, or he would activate his Mangekyou for training.

After a few days of solitude, Naruto started talking to himself. His daydreams started becoming more vivid, and he would pretend he was actually living it, talking to those who appeared.

"Of course Tsunade baa-chan! I'd love to be Hokage!" he exclaimed to the Fifth that had recently offered him her position as ruler of the village.

"Forget the council! Of course I'm old enough to accept!"

"Wow dobe, going crazy already?"

"Ha! See? I brought teme back to the village! Anyone who could sway that bastard is certainly worthy of-itai!" though the punch to the head had successfully broken the blond from his hallucinations, the black-eyed boy's only display of gratitude was a glare from the delusional blond.

"What the hell, kono yaro?!" Naruto yelled at the Sharingan user.

"You were hallucinating, and I brought you back to reality."

"Oh! A full sentence! You're one step closer to being something other than a bastard!" Naruto replied. His eyes widening as he realized this time talking to Sasuke should be used getting answers instead of bantering.

"What did you do to Karin?" was his first exclaimed question. "And why am I here? What are you trying to use me for?" he said averting his eyes as he spoke, avoiding the gaze of his captor, in case he decided to sport a certain wheeled eye.

"Like I have to answer to you, Usuratonkatchi." he answered before activating his Sharingan, just as he was about to do the same with his Managekyou, he was ceased by Naruto's words.

"What are you so afraid of?" he asked, his voice stopping Sasuke in his tracks.

The raven haired teen merely narrowed his eyes, silently inquiring what the blond meant by his words.

"You always rush in and out of here, throwing me my food, or activating that stupid jutsu as if you're afraid to talk to me or something?"

"Hn. Afraid of you? That's hilarious." was his easy reply.

"Could've fooled me." taunted the jinchuriki.

"I just try to hear your annoying voice as little as possible." the Uchiha replied, cooly.

"Really? Because I think you're a coward who's afraid that I might actually convince him to do the right thing!"

"And what might that be?" Sasuke asked with a smirk.

"Coming back to the village, of course." Naruto said, cocking his head to the side in confusion.

"I am going back to Konoha, dobe." as opposed to the joy the statement should've caused, it only caused the blond to raise a skeptical eyebrow at his ex-comrade.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, hardly believing the vengeful Uchiha would have a "sudden change of heart" without some prodding.

"Let's just say, I now know who's truly to blame for the pain I've suffered." Naruto shook his head.

"You sound so weak." such a short statement, those few words, caused an explosion of anger from Sasuke that nobody could've seen coming. Naruto knew how effective his comment had been the moment he felt the Uchiha's pale fist connect with his whiskered cheek.

"I'm weak? Look at you! Helplessly chained to the floor of my cell hopelessly held down to my every command! Who does that make the weak one?" he exclaimed in retaliation. Naruto rubbed his bruised face before glaring up at his prideful captor.

"Still you, Bastard. You're letting other people get the best of you, and control what you do. You're letting one hurtful memory control everything that happens after. I've been there, Sasuke. I know how pain, and loneliness feels. And honestly, the village loved you. You were good at everything, you had the best grades, and honestly, at one point, I-I think I kind of admired you."

"I bet." the pale teen noted sarcastically, remembering all the times the orange-clad ninja had tried to jump him for no good reason. His comment caused a small smirk to make it's way onto the face of the hyperactive ninja.

"Yeah, well, you never would've guessed it, but more than anything I wanted your attention. I wanted you to acknowledge me. I had always been alone, so sometimes I would be rude and play pranks, just because I wanted people to notice me, even if it was for the wrong reasons. But you... you were different, I wanted you to acknowledge me as an equal. I wanted us to understand each other, and I wanted us to be friends. Sasuke, I've been through pain, and I've overcome it, it was Konoha that caused me that pain and now Konoha is the very village I strive to one day be the protector of." Sasuke scoffed at this.

"I don't see why. The entire village was completely defenseless against Pain, but you took him down. I'm sure you could take down that stupid village. You could easily avenge yourself." the Uchiha stated, hoping maybe if he changed Naruto's way of thinking, he would stop trying to preach to him.

"You're wrong. I wouldn't be able to take down Konoha... and neither can you." Sasuke hadn't told him he was trying to take down Konoha, but Naruto could take a guess.

Sasuke wearily raised an eyebrow, silently inquiring about the meaning of his words. This conversation had been going on for too long. He refused to let Naruto sway him.

"We both have bonds in Konoha," Naruto explained. "Whether you want to accept it or not, there are people there that love you and miss you. I have embraced my bonds, and they have helped to erase the hatred from my heart. I realized if you accept the people that love you, hatred won't matter. And the day I realized this, I swear it felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders." The blond sighed and looked deep into red and black eyes, searching for understanding.

"I know Sasuke, I understand, hatred is a heavy burden to carry. I've let go of my hatred, so now I'm free, and strong as ever. No one can carry hatred for long, and now you're letting it crush you, and it's making you weak." Sasuke stared at the village idiot, though he refused to let any emotion slip from his mask of indifference, he truly was surprised. Naruto was so stupid sometimes, and the next second he sounded so wise. Was this the same dobe that was talking to himself only moments ago?

"You can preach to me all you want, but I've made my choice. I thought for a little while, that I could accept living a life with friends and abandon my revenge, but it was all just a distraction. It always came back to avenging the people I care about. To think 'friendship' could erase the hatred in my heart after I watched everyone I knew get taken away from me? You truly are naiive. Now that I know just who to take revenge on, nothing will stand in my way."

"Sasuke, I promise, if you come back to the village peacefully, you won't have to carry your hatred alone, I will help you carry that burden, and eventually, relieve you of it completely, and we will be really happy..." the jinchuriki, who's face had slowly adopted an honest smile as his speech progressed now set it into a firm frown as he continued.

"But if you try to destroy Konoha... I'll do everything in my power to stand in your way." he stated firmly, however he tensed when the brunette stepped forward.

"Actually," the Uchiha started with a grimace. "you're the one who's going to clear the way for me." he said, finally silencing the blond with the activation of his Mangekyou Sharingan. He kneeled down to unshackle the now red-eyed blond and take him on their final mission together, to destroy the place they once called home.

'Besides, Naruto...' he thought as they walked to meet up with the rest of Taka. He looked over and frowned slightly when he saw the empty crimson eyes of the boy who was once his best friend. 'the only bond I had in that pathetic village strong enough to stop me from destroying it is now right here next to me.'

Soon, it would all be over.


"Sakura, Kakashi tells me you have improved extremely quickly in the few weeks you have been training." Tsunade told her student. Sakura remained silent as her Hokage spoke.

"I have set up a team of ninja to accompany you on your mission." she added. Sakura's gaze fell to the floor as she heard this. A team of ninja? This was her fight. This was what she had worked hard for. She had to save Naruto since it was her weakness that got him captured in the first place. It was her duty and his friend and teammate.

"Tsunade-sama. May I request that I go on this mission alone." Sakura asked, causing the Sanin's eyes to widen.

"Sakura, Sasuke is an S-rank criminal, Naruto was able to defeat Pein who destroyed this entire village! I really don't think-"

"Please... have faith in me." Sakura pleaded. And for a few moments it was silent, the weight of this request a heavy burden on the blond Hokage's shoulders.

"You may go if accompanied by Kakashi." she finally replied. "He will lead the mission and if he sees you fit to fight alone..." she trailed off as she saw happy tears fill the eyes of her apprentice.

"Thank you, Tsunade-sama." she said with a smile before bowing and making her way to the door. She stopped short, however, at the sound of her master's voice.

"Make sure you and the brat get back in one piece, ya hear?" The statement only made the young Chunin smile grow, her eyes shining with hope.

"I intend to."


"These hills are so annoying!" Suigetsu complained as Taka made their way towards Konoha.

"There's a forest up ahead, so the land will flatten and we'll be able to travel through the trees." Sasuke explained.

"There are ninja headed this way!" Karin suddenly exclaimed. She closed her eyes, focusing her attention on the chakra she felt coming towards them. "Feels like two ninja... and a small animal summon." she said pointing to the direction they were traveling... Konoha. She immediately felt guilt stir in her and she quickly retracted her arm. She looked over at the blond she had become so fond of these past few days and frowned. She was betraying him right before his eyes, sure, he wouldn't remember any of it when the jutsu was deactivated, but the guilt was still there. He would open his eyes and see his village in ruins and know that she was a part of it. He had been nothing but nice to her since the day they met. He had offered her happiness and redemption, and she was spitting it back in his face by helping destroy everything he held dear...

Could she really do that to him?

"They're just Konoha nin." Sasuke replied nonchalantly. "We'll wait for them here, the moment they show up, Suigetsu, Juugo, kill them." he ordered, causing the water shinobi's face to light up.

"Yes!" he cheered, unsheathing his sword. "I've been itching to kill for a long time now." he stated with a smirk.

"You'll have plenty of people to kill once we reach Konoha." Sasuke said, looking over at the forest.

"Soon, ninja will burst through those trees, and once they are disposed of, we will go to Konoha, and I will get my revenge." He said, looking over at the blond of his companions.

He and Naruto both.


"I can smell his scent clearly! Sasuke and Naruto are straight up ahead, with a few other ninja." Pakkun stated earning a smile from the emerald-eyed kunoichi.

She was confident and hopeful, she had grown stronger in these past few weeks than she ever had in her entire life. She knew she could save Naruto, at this point, that's all she wanted, yet...

She couldn't shake that feeling of foreboding.

"They're right through these trees." said the canine, that apparently used the same shampoo as her.

"Thank you, Pakkun." Kakashi said gratefully before the small dog nodded and returned to his summon world. He turned to his old student.

"You ready?" he asked, mentally reminding her that the only way she could win this was with confidence.

"Yes." she stated firmly. "I'm ready." were her final words before her and her sensei burst through the trees. There they saw many hills, and on top of one stood their target.

Three ninja she didn't know stood among her old teammates, though she barely noticed them as her eyes locked with Sasuke's.

"Sasuke-kun..." she muttered, remembering what she learned, remembering what she trained for. Her eyes shifted over to Naruto, his eyes glistening a deep crimson red.

And she would stop at nothing until they were shining a hopeful blue again.

"Kill them." she heard Sasuke order.

She was ready.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter and I especially hope you enjoy the next! Please review and tell me what you think! Constructive criticism is very welcome.

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