A/N: Hey guys, I apologize for the delay in posting! My mom came to visit me yesterday so I was busy all day, and today I've just been working on homework. I hope you enjoy this chapter; I've been itching to post it!
For late March, the sun was shining intensely. Sasuke, covered in head to toe with armor, was lightly sweating. It had been a week since Itachi and he, along with a relatively small force, had ridden from their home domain. They were now in the southern domain of the Sarutobi clan; in other words, they were in Senju territory.
The report that had been delivered during the war meeting last week stated that a small Senju force, led by the Fox of Uzumaki, was raiding border towns in the Uchiha domain. They had been chasing this small group for six days. The cowards had kept running, too afraid to face the might of the Uchiha in open battle. It pissed Sasuke off. He was finally on his first real campaign and the enemy wouldn't even engage! It's as if the gods were mocking his wish.
Sasuke looked at the open field before him. Half of the Sarutobi domain had been conquered by the Uchiha a few months prior. Because of Itachi's peaceful ways and the excellent harvest the Uchiha alliance had had this past autumn, the people taken in by the Uchiha were being decently fed. Only border towns were the sights of major battles; Fugaku was convinced by his generals to leave the general population alone.
In the past six months the Uchiha army had made massive progress. They had taken half of the land the Senju had acquired. The enemy was left with only two strongholds: the original Senju domain and the Uzumaki domain. The placement of these two domains had been advantageous to the Senju; their domain was protected to the south and the east by the Uzumaki domain, which was surrounded by the ocean on three sides. The only way to defeat the Uzumaki was to go through the Senju or a naval assault, which was not likely due to the fact that the Uchiha were landlocked and had never fought a naval battle before. It would be unwise to attack the Uzumaki though the end of the war depended on the downfall of Uzushiogakure.
"Sasuke," called out Itachi. The black stallion upon which the Uchiha heir was mounted on came to a stop beside Sasuke.
"Nii-san," greeted Sasuke. He was still looking out at the field.
"You're restless."
Sasuke resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Of course his brother would pick up on his anticipation. Sasuke was hoping that this would escape Itachi's ever watchful eyes because he did not want to be lectured, but that was not the case.
When Sasuke did not respond, Itachi continued speaking. "If the men we've sent ahead of us find them, they will send word little brother. Until then, please—"
"Itachi-sama! Itachi-sama!" a retainer screamed, stopping the man he was calling from finishing his advice to Sasuke. The look of annoyance on Itachi's face only lasted a second, but it was enough to make Sasuke smirk.
"What is it?" Itachi asked, using his lordly voice. Sasuke openly rolled his eyes; he hated it when Itachi turned into Itachi the Lord. Sometimes Sasuke felt like he was losing the brother he grew up with and loved to the more distant, colder, and lordly version of his brother.
"The men that you've sent ahead…we just received a messenger hawk from them! They've found the Fox and his men. Apparently they are only an hour's ride from our current position."
At this news the fire inside of Sasuke roared with life, igniting him with a new type of restlessness. This was the kind that young Uchiha enjoyed and welcomed.
My chance to prove myself and earn glory is soon, he thought darkly.
As if he could somehow sense the dark turn his brother's mood had taken, Itachi sighed before thanking the man and shouting for his men to hurry up and ride behind him. Sasuke's stallion was trotting alongside Itachi, sensing the restlessness of his rider.
"Sasuke," Itachi started. His voice was serious, an edge to it that Sasuke had never heard before; it commanded attention and respect. "Be careful."
Without giving him a chance to respond, Itachi brought his horse to a fast gallop, darting away. Sasuke followed his brother, a dark and eager smirk on his face.
The fighting had already started when Sasuke arrived on the battlefield. His heart was pounding with excitement and apprehension. His cold and calculating eyes, for once alive with an inner fire, scanned the battlefield. He was looking for someone; Sasuke was searching for his old rival.
Bodies were littering the field in front of him. He recognized some of the armor, some of the clan crests on them. They were his men, taken down by the Senju force in front of Sasuke. Their bodies were littered with arrows and deep gashes, the grass drinking their blood as if it was nourishment for the earth. The stench was horrendous, penetrating and putrid.
As Sasuke was surveying the horror of war, something out of the corner of his eye had caught his attention. On the left side of the battlefield was a young man in spectacular armor. The cloth was a dingy green, almost the color of ripe olives; yellow dots surrounded light green whirlpools. The armor protecting his thighs, crotch, abdomen, and chest were a dark forest green that had different lines and dots of light blue, red, and orange. His face mask was the same dark forest green as the rest of the armor on his body, three yellow whiskers on either side of the mask, a red rope tying and connecting it to his helmet. The helmet might have been the most spectacular piece of the entire outfit; on the top was a small, snarling, orange, nine-tailed fox.
Sasuke smirked. I've found you at last…Naruto.
He directed his horse in the direction of the Uzumaki, his longtime rival. When they were children and fostered at the same lord, Otsutsuki Hagaromo, there was something about the obnoxious blonde that irked Sasuke to no end. He was lazy with his studies and stubborn to an unbelievable degree, yet Naruto had still managed to catch up to Sasuke, who spent all of his time training. Whenever he sparred with Naruto, the Uchiha had felt a spark inside of him coming to life and igniting like never before. But now was the time to prove who was better, and Sasuke had every intention of coming out of that battle victorious.
"I see you've improved your swordsmanship skills if you're walking around with six swords…dobe," Sasuke greeted. He was towering high above Naruto, his horse giving him a height advantage.
This is the order the world should be in, Naruto. The Uchiha belong on top in this cursed world of hatred. It is the world I will help my family achieve.
Despite the face mask, Naruto smiled at his old friend.
"Hey teme. I was hoping for the day I'd get to see you on the battlefield." The same loud fool was still there, despite years of fight, Sasuke could see. It caused his frown to deepen. "Though I was hoping we could have been fighting on the same side."
Sasuke said nothing, his eyes cold and dead as they stared into the azure blue of his opponent's eyes.
"Are you ready to face the strength of an Uchiha, Naruto? Are you ready to see the skill of a true swordsman, a true samurai?" Sasuke taunted as he got off his horse, left hand on the hilt of his katana. He smirked again before finishing. "Are you ready to taste my power?"
Drawing only one of his swords, Naruto pointed it at Sasuke and smiled, though it did not reach his eyes. No, this was Naruto's battle face, one that Sasuke had seen before in the past. This smile meant that the Uzumaki was serious.
"Sasuke, have you heard that when two samurai are of an equally high caliber, they can understand each other's thoughts with simple blows? Maybe we've finally achieved that type of power."
Naruto lunged at Sasuke, their swords meeting in a clang of steel against steel. Wherever one directed his sword to, the other would parry it and send it away. The sounds of screams filled both of their ears, the sweat from their brows dripping and stinging their eyes, blurring their vision. Both young men were panting, not having been able to land a single blow on their opponent. Sasuke's frustration was rising, his anger clouding his judgment.
"Sasuke," Naruto said as they danced in a whirl of steel and armor.
The Uchiha replied with another slash of his sword that Naruto expertly dodged. His blue eyes picked up on the loss of control Sasuke was currently experiencing.
"You're definitely a better swordsman than me. But tell me something teme…what are you fighting for?!"
The answer that came out of Sasuke's mouth was automated and almost robotic; it was the answer he had been telling himself ever since the war had started.
"For the honor of my clan! For my own glory! And I will not let you stand in the way!" roared Sasuke, his eyes as wild as the rage within him. Naruto swore he saw Sasuke's eyes turn crimson.
But this lack of control, this incredibly emotional response had been something Naruto was counting on. The Uzumaki dodged the attack Sasuke had sent his way and quickly darted to the Uchiha's blind spot, swinging his sword.
A sharp wail of pain pierced the battlefield as Sasuke's left arm was deeply cut. His katana dropped from his grasp and the too-proud Uchiha fell to his knees. Sasuke's dark eyes, filled to the brim with so much hatred, locked onto Naruto. The Uzumaki was staring at his friend with intense sadness.
"Your reason for fighting is shallow, Sasuke. There's more to life than just honor and glory. You can't become truly strong until you have someone worth protecting and sacrificing everything for. Until you find that person, you'll never have true strength."
Naruto turned his back on the bleeding and wounded Sasuke, signaling his troops to retreat. Though Sasuke hadn't known it, the Senju were outnumbered and were fighting on the brink of exhaustion. The Uchiha had claimed victory on this day while Sasuke passed out on the blood soaked ground.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed the first battle between Sasuke and Naruto! It definitely won't be the last time these two interact with one another. Also, I will NOT be posting next week; I need to start studying for finals and finishing up final papers. Because of that I'm taking the week off next week so I hope you don't mind! Please leave a review, add this to your favorites, and follow! Thanks for all the amazing support you guys have shown me and this story!