AN: Well… Some of you seemed a bit miffed. And for those of you who aren't already mad at me, the truth is that Ino is dead. I can't think of a way to say it kindly so there you have it. However, before you go and drop this from your alerts or favorites, I have one thing to mention. Up until chapter 27, almost every review I received was a positive one. Most of you thought I was doing a good job, so here's the thing… trust me to keep a good thing going, and you'll get your happy ending. But if you're reading this looking for something unworkable, then this isn't a story you want to read. I write things realistically. People die, there is suffering in life, it isn't fair, but it's the way things are. But what's more is that every day, people live on. They heal and recover. The question is now, will Naruto, dealt a hand more horrible than most, be one of those people, or will he ultimately give up? You'll just have to find out.


A Symphony of Fate

"You're looking surprisingly well, Naruto," Sasuke shouted over the roar of the waterfall. "I would have thought that after a week in bed, with no food, and no training that you would have barely been able to stand up. Must be a result of the demon chakra, right? Are you going to tell me the Kyuubi is what's keeping you going?"

Naruto didn't so much as shift his gaze away from Sasuke's yellow eyes, not wanting to present an opening or drop his guard. "I'm not sure," he said calmly, in a hollow voice, "That might be part of it."

Sasuke grinned, pondering for just a second before he spoke again. "Or is it that you're just too numb to feel the pain and the fatigue?"

Naruto winced. That was a definite possibility.

"I guess it doesn't matter anyway," Sasuke said, standing up a little straighter and lowering the kunai. His voice was not at all mocking. "I am sorry for what happened to her. I do wish things could have turned out differently in that respect. She really did seem to make you happy."

A growl rumbled up in Naruto's chest, escaping from between his teeth as a quiet snarl. "Don't talk about her."

Sasuke's eyes darted away, down into the valley, before he looked back up at Naruto. The yellow tint was less noticeable but still plainly there. "Naruto," he said, his voice icy cold but less serpentine, more his own, "let's not do this. I want to go to Orochimaru, but I don't want to fight my way through you. Don't make me."

"You can't have both," Naruto said, his words barely short of trembling, but still imposing, "If you go to Orochimaru, it will only be because you cut through me to get there."

"Why?" Sasuke groaned. "Why make me do this? I just know that I'm going to do what I want, regardless of who gets in my way. Why can't you just let me go?"

"Sasuke," said Naruto, looking down, no longer caring about his guard, "You know good and well why."

"Enlighten me," muttered the Uchiha, the color in his eyes flickering like a candle battling the wind.

"If it is the seal tapering with your thoughts, then this isn't what you really want."

Sasuke grimaced "there's more to it than what Kakashi told you might change my mind. I don't feel like listening to you regurgitate what he wanted you to say."

Naruto nodded. "No, … I never told Kakashi or anyone about the seal. I didn't want to muck up your personal life. I … Sasuke, you're…" Naruto paused before steadying himself and continuing, "You're all the family I've got left. Rival or no, you're the closest thing I've ever had to a brother, and I'm not going to just sit by and let you destroy yourself. Even if it means I have to break every bone in your body and rip that seal off by myself I'm not going to just let you go. Please… Come back to all of us."

Sasuke turned away, putting his back to Naruto.

For a long moment there were no sounds other than the roar of the relentless waterfall. Naruto watched Sasuke carefully, not for treachery or an attempt at escape, but rather hoping that the boy could manage the strength to fight off Orochimaru's influence. Naruto almost stopped breathing, the anticipation choking him as he waited. Either way, this would be the last exchange before the end began. If Sasuke accepted the offer then he could return with Naruto and there would be no harm done. If however, Sasuke decided to keep going, then there would be no other option…

Minutes ticked by and neither moved. Naruto was dying to see the look on Sasuke's face, be it hateful or hurt, though he didn't let his impatience show. Sasuke wasn't moving. He was as still as the statue on which he stood, and very well could have been a part of it.

"Forgive me," Sasuke said, in barely more than a whisper. He turned around, revealing his raven eyes ringed in fierce yellow flame. Tears were streaming down his face, but his voice was steady and calm. The seal all over his body seemed to have gone from dark to a midnight black, its lines more defined against Sasuke's skin. "I'm sorry," he said, "but I'm going to Orochimaru."

Naruto closed his eyes and growled inwardly, as the red chakra began to bubble up around him.

SC

"I still don't think you should have let him go alone, Kakashi," Jiraiya mumbled in an undertone. "He can't be recovered yet."

Kakashi closed his visible eye and leaned more of his weight against the wall in the Hokage's office. "His body is absolutely fine," said the copy nin, "Somehow, I'm not sure of the way it works yet, the Kyuubi's chakra is molding with Naruto's natural energies. This hybrid chakra seems to be what's powering his body, even when he's been starved half to death. Also, this new energy seems to be more potent when it comes to healing and preserving his body. I can't be sure, but… There's evidence to show that Naruto's taken a turn for the better, physically at least."

"You got all this out of watching him lay there in a coma for a week?" asked Jiraiya.

"No, I noticed it a long time ago. It first started occurring in the Wave, when Naruto and Sasuke fought Zabuza I noticed the chakra wasn't fully Kyuubi's but neither was it Naruto's, but it wasn't until this last week when it became more prominent, no doubt because the state his body was in forced him to adapt. But at any rate, physically I can assure you he's in top condition."

"I'm not so worried about the physical," said the Sanin, standing up and walking away from the desk, visibly relieved to be out from behind it.

Kakashi opened his eye and straightened up as Jiraiya passed him, making for the door. The Jounin followed Jiraiya without a word as he left. The two of them walked down the long flight of stairs in front of the Hokage's complex, winding around to the back of the massive buildings.

In front of them was a long, but narrow stretch of shaded lawn between the wall of the complex and the stony base of the Monument to the Hokages. It went on for about fifty yards or so, and was about ten feet thick at the widest. The dappled turf was a beautiful emerald green, and at even intervals, maybe every four feet, there was a small spire of blue stone resting against the wall of the complex. Each stone was two feet thick and ten feet high, presenting a flat surface to the cliff face opposite it.

"Look familiar?" asked the Sanin.

Kakashi nodded.

Jiraiya took a step forward to the first stone. "Each one a family, each one a monument to sacrifice, and each one a weight around the heart of anyone who reads the names. Do you know how many stones there are here?"

Kakashi shook his head as they walked down the line, "I've made a point not to count."

"Too many," muttered Jiraiya. "Hyuuga, Nara, Akamichi, Kabakchi, Uzumaki, Dordei, Haruno, Sarutobi, Inuzuka, Aburame, Yuhui… the list goes on. Each stone is a family, and each name is a loved one who's life has cut short in service to Konoha. Shikamaru's grandfather is here. So are several of the Hyuugas. More recently Sakura's mother was added, and our beloved Third."

"There aren't many people who didn't know someone on one of these stones," said Kakashi.

"Yes," Jiraiya said, stopping in front of one of the stones in the middle and turning to face it, "but do you know who knows more of them than most?"

Kakashi was silent, starring at the ground.

"Yamanaka Shobi," Jiraiya read from the monument, "died in the battle against the Nine-Tails, Loyal beyond reproach and kind. Yamanaka Inoichi, died in dutiful service to Konoha, upright and honorable. … Yamanaka Ino, died in the First Sound invasion, a beauty struck down long before her time."

"You carved the more recent epitaph yourself," Kakashi noted.

Jiraiya nodded. "I did… I thought it appropriate, considering the circumstances. Do you have any idea how much Naruto's lost? How much he stands to lose if you keep gambling with his life? Look at all of this. Orochimaru killed the Third, Hinata killed Ino, Mrs. Yamanaka is dead."

"So what would you have me do Jiraiya? Just let Sasuke, one of the few people Naruto has left, abandon him? There's no way he could take another hit like that. His mind is fragile enough as is." There was poison in Kakashi's tone.

"No," growled Jiraiya, "I would've had you go with him at the very least. You know the condition Sasuke is in. He can't fend off Orochimaru's influence anymore. He's crumbling to it. In short, he really does think that he needs to go to that monster and he'll fight his way through anything in his way."

"But," Kakashi interrupted, "Sasuke CAN break through this. I sent Naruto after him alone so that Sasuke could see that Naruto still cared and that they need each other. With his help, Sasuke might just be able to break that snake's hold on him… whereas if I went with Naruto it would look less like a rescue and more like an attack."

Jiraiya was silent for a long moment. "And what if Sasuke does ultimately resist?"

"Then Naruto will fight to make him see the truth." Kakashi answered without hesitation. "And if Sasuke sees that Naruto is fighting for him it may be the encouragement he needs to get free."

"You're taking a long shot and you know it," said Jiraiya. "If it gets out of hand, and we both know that's more likely than not, then one of them could end up killing the other. And then what will we have? If Naruto kills Sasuke that boy will break down. He'll never be the same. If Sasuke kills Naruto, unlikely I know but still, then we still lose both of them."

Kakashi waited for a moment before he answered. "I don't think that will happen… unless Sasuke really does value power over friendship…"

"You know he may." Jiraiya uttered.

"I can't let myself believe that …" said Kakashi. "I have to hold out that he's better than that."

"It's not a matter of how 'good' Sasuke may be, Kakashi. It has everything to do with just how evil and manipulative Orochimaru is."

Kakashi didn't answer.

SC

Sasuke skirted along the surface of the water, running at top speed, dodging and weaving toward Naruto. The raven haired boy was covered from head to heel in the intricate design of the black seal, and his skin looked like marble in contrast. His ebony eyes were locked on Naruto, who stood silently atop the lake about eighty yards away.

The blonde genin was crouched and poised to strike, the water around his feet bubbling and reflecting the faint red aura that surrounded his body, as he waited for Sasuke to come within striking distance. His wakizashi were held down in a defensive stance, as he shifted his weight from side to side to counter Sasuke's movements.

In a blast of spray the water beneath Naruto erupted in a geyser of tiny droplets as the genin in black exploded forward, one arm back the other up high. Naruto roared and hacked at the Uchiha, his blade slicing though the screaming air. Sasuke disappeared in a blur, as he opened his sharingan just in time to read the move and dodge away. With a rush of wind he vanished into the spray behind Naruto.

The Uzumaki stopped and whirled around, throwing up his left arm, which held the darker of his two swords, in defense. The valley rung with the sound of metal clashing on cold metal for just an instant. The kunai in Sasuke's hand shrieked and split in two at the hilt as Naruto's defending blade cut it cleanly.

Sasuke jumped back as Naruto retaliated, and back-flipped a few yards away from his adversary, but Naruto was too fast. In a mad dash the blonde charged forward and tackled Sasuke. The two of them lost their concentration on the water, and plunged under the surface, sinking far too fast and far too deep into the sapphire abyss.

Naruto was pushing them deeper and deeper, bringing his demonic chakra to bear and propelling them down. The water soon became so cold that the fiery haze around the blonde didn't heat it enough to bubble or roll, and no matter how hard Sasuke struggled, he couldn't shake Naruto's deathly grip.

"If you won't listen to reason," Naruto gurgled, "I'll just wait until the water in your lungs keeps you from fighting and carry you back to Konoha myself."

Sasuke tried to growl and kick at Naruto's leg. The result was nothing more than what little breath he had left bursting from his lungs and heaving up to the surface as a small bit of foam.

"I can hold my breath a lot longer than you," Naruto sputtered, though by now they were so far down that his words were instantly lost in the water.

It was pitch dark by the time Sasuke's back plowed into the sandy bottom of the lake with a puff and a storm of debris. Any light from the sun was swallowed up by the immense depth, which could have been no less than one, maybe two thousand feet, far deeper than one on the surface would've guessed the lake to be.

Sasuke's head was spinning in the blackness. His lungs were starved for air, and he was unbearably far from the nearest source of it. He struggled and fought but couldn't break Naruto's grip. He closed his eyes and gathered the last bit of his strength for one last move.

There was an icy blast as chakra exploded from the seal all over Sasuke's body. Sweet relief flooded the Uchiha's lungs, though he still wasn't breathing, and Naruto, caught off guard by the sudden wave of energy, was sent tumbling away from Sasuke.

In the dark, there was no way to tell exactly what was going on, or to see where anyone was, even the light from the chakra aura was quickly swallowed up by the gloom, but Naruto could suddenly feel a presence much colder than the water all around. Bubbles erupted from the sides of his mouth as he growled quietly. An odor was floating through the water, one he hadn't smelled since the Forest of Death. It smelled like a dying snake.

Do I stay here and fight him blind where neither of us would have an edge? Naruto asked himself, I could find his approximate location through smell, but… If I can't see him then it'll be harder to not kill him.

Pain exploded in Naruto's stomach as what felt like a stone fist slammed into his belly. He slashed at the water, but touched nothing. A new pain rocketed through his thigh as something pierced his trousers and sliced into his skin. He sheathed his amber blade, freeing his right hand and reached down. He jerked the blade out, guessing by the shape he could feel that it was a kunai, and tossed it to the side.

A new smell floated through the water: blood. The kunai must've cut into a large vein or artery, as Naruto could suddenly taste his own blood all around. It was drowning out Sasuke's smell. The metallic scent only intensified as another blade tore into Naruto's shoulder, spilling out even more blood. Naruto cursed uneasily. It wasn't as if the damage was at all serious, but it was enough to completely blind his last working sense.

On the surface thenNaruto decided, jumping off the bottom of the lake and flying up. He began to pump more chakra into the wounds in his shoulder and thigh, closing up the gashes in a matter of seconds.

Acting on sheer instinct, (it was still too dark to see,) Naruto propelled himself to the side with a blast of chakra, just as a searing bolt of energy tore through the water. It missed him by mere centimeters, and instantly flash boiled the freezing liquid, making Naruto blink and sputter with surprise. In that one second when his guard was down, Naruto felt his left hand blasted by a bolt of chakra identical to the one he'd just evaded. The blow completely numbed his hand, but not before he could feel an iron grasp wrench his midnight wakizashi from the afflicted hand.

Naruto reached around faster than the resistance of the water should have allowed, and unsheathed the golden sword, whirling around to where he could feel Sasuke approaching, and held out his arm in defense. Scalding energy surged through his body as the black and gold metals collided in the water, and Naruto gasped.

When the two weapons touched, a strange, violet light erupted from their edges and illuminated the water like twilight, though the surface was still a hundred feet overhead. There in the gloom, was Sasuke, his eyes as black as midnight in Hell, and his face so pale that the ultraviolet light made it glow as if he were a spirit.

And then the light was gone.

Naruto could feel Sasuke swimming away, he could hear the swish as Sasuke's shape cut through the water at an amazing speed, and he immediately abandoned swimming up and pumped as much chakra as he dared into the soles of his feet. Naruto immediately began to sail through the water, and he followed the Uchiha's scent.

It was amazing, how attune Naruto had become to tracking by aroma, or stench, alone. The trail Sasuke left in the water led Naruto after him flawlessly. It was almost like the Uzumaki could see an invisible trail that traced Sasuke like the tail of a comet. Naruto could tell that he was getting closer, and fed more energy into his speed, closing the distance to less than thirty yards. The trail took a sharp cut to the right and Naruto followed it perfectly. It cut again, hard to the left this time and he turned the corner without any trouble.

Sasuke's scent began to plunge downward, spiraling clockwise back towards the bottom, and Naruto followed it like a raptor diving after a fleeing bird. The death spiral began closing in like a noose, tighter and tighter as it wound closer and closer to the bottom. Naruto could nearly taste the scent it was so close. The spiral was closing in on itself to quickly that the bubbles left in Naruto's wake were almost a solid circle in the water.

IMPALED

A burning edge sliced through Naruto's left arm, glancing off the bone but nearly rending the muscles free of his frame in the process. Blood spat from the wound in massive columns as his heart beat frantically with shock and pain. The blue flash of chakra from the midnight blade as it made contact was just enough to show Sasuke's form already fleeing upwards.

Naruto gasped, flooding his lungs with the stinging salt water, just as the shock wore off and the agony of the wound set in. He wretched and clutched at his arm, literately holding the reaved flesh to the bone, instinctively pumping chakra into the muscles to solder them back where they belonged.

Damn, he thought through the pain, god damn that was clever of him.

Sasuke's tactic had worked flawlessly. He'd drawn Naruto into the farce of a chase, and closed the spiral till the two genin had formed concentric circles, then the Uchiha timed it perfectly, striking out just as he passed Naruto's interior flank. The move would have no lasting repercussions, but it had bought Sasuke time; time to flee to the surface and plan his next move while Naruto had to take the time to heal.

Naruto's eyes popped open wide. He could've killed me just now. Naruto realized, as he finished mending the wound a minute or so later. That hit was too perfect to be random. The point slid directly between my biceps and the bone, then ripped the muscles away from my elbow. A perfect shot to cripple me. He had to see to aim it, but if he can see that clearly then why didn't he just finish me…

Naruto pondered the question as he swam, almost slowly back to the surface, taking the time to cough the last of the water out of his lungs. Once he broke the surface, Naruto took his first real breath of air and stopped filling his lungs with the healing chakra. He climbed to his feet and looked around.

It didn't take long to spot Sasuke, standing about fifty paces away and facing Naruto. He was holding the midnight blade in his right hand, gently running his fingers over the razor's edge, and tracing the design embossed in the metal.

"A beautiful sword," Sasuke called out to Naruto in a serpentine voice. His eyes were once again, yellow. "Orochimaru just finished telling me it must be from Maibu, given the perfect, no… inhumanly faultless craftsmanship. He also says you've been a fool not to take these weapons far more seriously and that you should have unlocked their full potential by now…" Sasuke laughed when he saw Naruto glance around nervously, then continued "Don't' worry," he said to the Uzumaki, "Orochimaru-Sama is nowhere near here. But he and I can communicate over any distance now."

"Really," Naruto growled, his arm still stinging, "What else have you two talked about while I was gone?"

Sasuke's face instantly hardened and the color faded from his eyes, leaving them a deep raven, though the seal all over his body pulsed with black energy. "He asked me why I didn't just take your head off when I had the opportunity just a minute ago," Sasuke said, completely serious. "He was really quite annoyed that I chose to give you such a minor… well, minor for you anyway, wounding."

Naruto looked almost shocked, but quickly recovered and lowered his weapon. "I was just wondering that myself," he muttered.

Sasuke groaned, not in disgust or anger, but with what sounded like heartache. He closed his eyes and put his free hand over his chest. "I told you earlier," said the Uchiha, in barely more than an undertone, "I do not want to kill you. I don't want to hurt you... Fuck, I don't even want to fight you. I just need you to let me go to Orochimaru-Sama."

"I can't do that Sasuke, and you know damn good and well why," said Naruto. "Konoha needs you back."

Sasuke chuckled emptily. "Konoha," he muttered. "Konoha has nothing to do with this and you know it."

Naruto looked down at the water. It had been a thinly veiled lie and he knew it. "Fine," he said, sounding defeated. "Sasuke … …" there was a long pause, but Sasuke waited patiently for Naruto to speak. "Sasuke, you and Sakura are all I have left. You two are family, not just my friends and…" he stammered again, but still Sasuke was silent, waiting. "And," Naruto continued, his voice breaking, "I'm not going to let you hand yourself over to the devil. He'll never give you back."

Sasuke closed his eyes and lines creased his face. "Naruto," he groaned, "please. I understand what you're saying, and I see where you're coming from, but I need you to see what I'm saying and understand me. Revenge is what I'm alive for. I can't be truly free until Itachi is dead, and Orochimaru can give me that. If I have to trade a few years of freedom for a lifetime of it, then I will."

"But don't you see!?" Naruto shouted, "Orochimaru will never give you your freedom back! You'll be his till the day you die! He's just making you think this to draw you further into his trap."

Sasuke flinched and turned around, closing his eyes. For several long minutes, a brooding silence passed between the two of them, and Naruto could see the binding seal, that wretched thing, pulsing with its malevolent black power.

"I'm sorry," Sasuke said, not facing Naruto. Purple energy was beginning to materialize all around his frame and roll off his shoulders like waves of deadly miasmas. "But it seems we're at an impasse." Sasuke turned around, his eyes scarlet, the Mangekyou Sharingan open wide, ringed in yellow. The blade in his hand was reacting violently to the evil chakra, the metal seemed to be bubbling and frothing… the blade was growing steadily longer, and spikes were sprouting like teeth opposite the edge of the blade.

"I'm sorry," Sasuke repeated, "But I am going to Orochimaru." He crouched down and pointed the blade, now a wickedly sharp and imposing sword at Naruto. "And if you stand in my way, I will kill you. That or you'll have to kill me."

Naruto closed his eyes and scrunched his face to battle back the tears. The wind began to whip around him as fiery red chakra, far more substantial than what he had been using, almost like fog, bubbled up from all around his frame. His grip on the wakizashi tightened. His knuckles paled and the bone showed easily through the skin. Such a grip would have shattered any normal sword.

The red chakra howled like a gust of wind as Naruto's eyes burst open. His irises were as bright as the sun, but red like blood. They seemed to churn with energy, and his pupils had lengthened into cat-like slits. The marks on the boy's cheeks deepened into ravines carved through his face. Strangely though, the chakra refused to take on the form of a fox. It remained a cloud of fire around Naruto's frame.

"I'm not letting you go to Orochimaru," growled Naruto in a voice more the Kyuubi's than his own, as his own blade began to boil not unlike the sword Sasuke held.

"Then I hate to say it," muttered Sasuke, his own purple chakra roaring like a beast and thrashing about in response to Naruto, "but one of us will die here."

SC

"The list of casualties, Jiraiya-Sama," said Akamichi Chouji, the recently promoted Lieutenant of the Konoha Guard, handing the Sanin a manila envelope. "The complete list that is."

"Thank you," Jiraiya sighed, reaching over the Hokage's mahogany desk and taking the package.

The man in red flipped the lid open and shifted his weight uneasily as he pulled out the few pages of white copy-paper. He spent just over a minute scanning through the leaves. His eyes got steadily wider as if there was some mistake.

"This is it?" he asked Chouji. "Are you sure this is the complete list of Leaf casualties? There aren't more than six dozen names here."

The Guard just grinned. "We were off to a rough start, but once the city got its defenses moving properly, there wasn't anything that could stand in our way. We took the town back one step at a time, and took the enemies apart one piece at a time."

Jiraiya smiled as Chouji pulled an open bag of potato chips from his vest and began to munch on them. That boy had changed so much, thought the Sanin. Being moved to the Guard had visibly toughened him up, a fact that was only reinforced by Chouji's recent eight-inch growth spurt and decision to make the segmented armor of Konoha his typical attire.

"So, how does it feel to be a Lieutenant?" Jiraiya asked slowly, but not unenthusiastically. "Especially when you're just now thirteen?"

Chouji grinned again and swallowed a mouthful of the chips. "I like it," he said. "People are surprisingly nice. At first I thought they'd be stupid and mean just cause I was young, but even the older guards are fine with my promotion. And Dad is really proud so I'm happy with it."

"I like the new hairstyle," Jiraiya said, noting that the Guard had elected for a standard forehead protector and spiked back hair, rather than the two pillars he'd worn only a short while ago.

Chouji laughed. "Shikamaru did too, said he was glad I'd finally taken the panties off of my head."

Both of them laughed at that and Jiraiya waved his hand dismissively. "Thanks again for the report. It's nice to finally have all of the nin missing in action accounted for. I never would have guessed that our numbers were so much better off than the Sound and Sand."

"It was almost a ten to one loss once we got things moving," said the Guard. "We slaughtered them."

"How many did you get?" asked the Sanin.

"Personally? Eighteen of the Sand nin," said Chouji, "And twenty six of the Sound. But all the credit should go to my unit. We all worked really hard together."

"I'm sure you're not giving yourself enough praise. If you were, you'd be bragging about the promotion."

Chouji didn't answer, but just shifted around a little, not wanting to appear arrogant.

"Thanks again for the list," said Jiraiya, "You're dismissed."

Chouji saluted him and turned around, opening the door of the office, and nearly bowling over Sakura as the two of them tried to walk through the open door at the same time. Chouji stopped short and tried to back up, while Sakura tripped and fell forward as Chouji stepped to the side and lost his balance completely. The result was both of them tumbling to the ground.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Chouji stammered, getting to his feet as Sakura stood herself up.

"No problems," said the pink haired girl, all but ignoring the Guard as she focused on Jiraiya. "Jiraiya-Sama, can I have a word with you?" she glanced at Chouji, trying not to be rude but probably failing. "Privately?"

"Of course," said the Sanin, he glanced at Chouji, "congrats again on the promotion," he addressed the Lieutenant.

Chouji saluted once more and left the room, closing the door quietly after himself.

"Now," said Sakura, "has there been any word on Naruto?"

Jiraiya cocked an eyebrow and looked at her. "He's only been gone a few hours," said the old man, "give the boy some time to complete his mission."

"That's just it. There's something," she hesitated, wondering if it was really her place to reveal the secret of the seal.

Jiraiya's probing glance was more a question than Sakura needed and the young girl cracked.

"Sasuke's been sealed with some kind of black mark!" she blurted, the secret just punching its way out of her.

"What do you mean?" asked the Sanin, an edge creeping into his voice as he leaned forward onto the desk.

Sakura drew a breath to steady herself, then began to give Jiraiya a brief synopsis of the events that transpired in the forest of death. "And then," she continued, "After Orochimaru took his fangs out of Sasuke's shoulder, there was some kind of black seal there… That's what Naruto said."

Jiraiya stood up from the desk and paced to the girls side. His words were quiet, but crisp and incredibly clear. There was obvious fear, if not outright panic in his voice. "Tell me," he said, "What did the seal look like? Be as exact as you can…"

"It was like three little snakes," said Sakura. "They were each curled up into spirals and in a triangle shape… What does that mean?"

Jiraiya didn't wait or answer her question. He instead ran his thumb over the sharp edge of the mahogany desk, drawing blood, and flashed a few hand seals. He slammed his hand on the ground and a poof of smoke erupted in the room.

When the cloud faded there was a bright orange toad, about knee high to Sakura, standing next to the Sanin and looking up at him with liquid black eyes.

"Go!" Jiraiya barked at the toad, "Find Hatake Kakashi at once and bring him to me as soon as you can."

The toad nodded and leapt out the office's east window in a single bound. Sakura turned to Jiraiya who was now busily pacing the room with a worried look on his face.

"What's going on?" she asked, "What's the problem?"

"It would seem that Orochimaru is not leaving Sasuke's fate to chance," said Jiraiya "and that Naruto is in as much trouble as I feared."

SC

"Just Let Me Go!" Sasuke shouted, hacking madly at Naruto, both hands pulling the weapon down in a deadly arc.

The blonde, glowing with the angry light of the Demonic Chakra roared, swung his golden sword like a battle-ax and knocked the midnight blade aside. Naruto screamed and threw his shoulder into Sasuke's chest, forcing him to tumble back.

"Stop asking me that," growled the Uzumaki in a guttural rumble. "I told you, if you go it'll be through me."

Sasuke regained his balance, wiping a thin line of blood away from his split lip with the back of his tattooed hand. He stood himself up on the waving surface of the lake and eyed Naruto's sword with his sharingan warily. The amber metal had twisted forward into a long and exceptionally elegant shaft. The edge was thin and glinted in the sun, casting an array of yellow tinted rainbows across the lake. There were no spikes on the lighter sword, nor any gems or intricate patterns embossed in its side. It was simple, but beautiful.

"I wonder," said Sasuke, his tone indicating a change in the subject, "why this sword has chosen me." He held his midnight weapon up in front of his face. "It is after all, aware of itself and can decide who is allowed to hold it."

"Maybe," Naruto said quietly, "we're enough alike, you and I."

Sasuke shook his head. "I don't think that's quite it," he said somberly. "I think it's that you've changed." Both boys' eyes narrowed as Sasuke paused. "I think it's that, to this sword, you died in the battle a week ago, and it's chosen a new owner."

Naruto didn't say a word.

"Let's face it," said the Uchiha, "You've not exactly been yourself since," his voice trailed off as lines of pain shot across Naruto's face. "I'm sorry," he continued, diverting his gaze.

"You didn't…" Naruto dropped his head and stared at the water. "You weren't the one who…" he stopped completely as his voice broke and he fought the fury bubbling in his heart.

Sasuke's face softened, the yellow almost completely gone from his eyes as he watched Naruto. "You have no idea," he said, "how much I wish I could offer you some kind of comfort… You're right after all. Rival or no, we were like… But now that Ino's gone I…" he stopped, then shuddered.

"Sasuke," said Naruto, all pain gone from his voice, replaced by stony ice. "This is your last chance. Come back with me, or I'm going to keep coming after you. I don't want to talk anymore; not about her, not about anyone, not about anything."

Sasuke groaned. "I was hoping to avoid this… but I must end this quickly, for both our sakes."

The Uchiha boy closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then instantly convulsed and fell beneath the top of the lake. He began to writhe as the seal expanded out like ink all over his body until he was nothing more than a silhouette in the water, a black shape twitching beneath the surface and sinking deeper.

Naruto didn't move. He didn't even breath as he waited to see what was going to happen next. "Sasuke…" he muttered, "how can you be so blind?"

For a long minute there was silence until slowly blackness began to cloud the water. An almost ethereal shadow was permeating the lake like a cold night rolling in over a village, but this blackness came from beneath.

Naruto grew uneasy as the darkness, now a midnight haze crept towards him, and as it touched his feet he shuddered as if the heat was literately drained from his body. He felt not only colder than before, but sick now.

"Here," Sasuke's voice said from behind Naruto, causing the boy to flinch. He hadn't heard his rival emerge, but he slowly turned around to see what he assumed was Sasuke standing a dozen yards away.

It was about Sasuke's height, and wearing his clothes, but that's where this creature ceased to resemble the Uchiha. His skin was the color of un-tanned leather, a sickly and puce laced brown. His light blue hair fell to the center of his back and spiked away from his body, and the black spike across the center of his face was all that remained of the original seal, the rest now formed his very flesh.

Naruto stared into the Mangekyou eyes and his breath caught. "Sasuke," he whispered, "What have you done to yourself?"

Sasuke smiled, any compassion in his demeanor gone, replaced by arrogance. "I've evolved Naruto," he said, "far beyond the point where you could do anything to stop me. Orochimaru-Sama has… brought me around to see things the way he does, and I now see myself as what I am, a power given form. Naruto," Sasuke nearly laughed, "With his help, I'll grow even beyond this. I'll shed my mortal coil and gain true power."

"You've gone insane," Naruto muttered, not moving.

Now Sasuke laughed. He threw his head back and bellowed before straightening himself out. He continued in a biting tone. "Not insane Naruto. I see now that Orochimaru-Sama has give me back my sanity. You are the one who lacks sense, you and all of Konoha. You don't see that power is the currency of the universe, and the only thing that can defeat power is more power."

Naruto flinched again, remembering Gaara's words.

"I will have ultimate power," Sasuke continued, "I will transcend everyone and I will kill Itachi. When I do, it will be complete. It will all have come full circle. More power will have defeated less power, as is proper, and I will have my reward in vengeance and blood."

As Sasuke laughed again, Naruto lowered himself to the surface of the water. The words pouring out of his friend's mouth were biting and painful, but an assurance. Sasuke had just shown his colors, shown his loyalties. And there was only once path open.

"No choice," Naruto said quietly and emotionlessly as he resigned himself to the task. The red chakra that, until now had been drifting around him harmlessly began to swirl around his form, slowly condensing into the shape of two fox's tails behind him. "whether or not it's that seal doesn't matter now, and I've got just one goal now."

Without a second thought, Naruto exploded forward. He'd reached Sasuke and swung the blade at his throat before the water behind him had even rushed up in the wake of his single, powerful stride. Sasuke's ebony sword was however, already there to block the strike and the two blades rung with an almost musical, albeit deafening, note that echoed off the valley walls as the water behind Naruto rushed up in a giant column.

Sasuke twisted and jabbed his sword for Naruto's stomach, but flipped around at the last second to evade a parry and slashed open the center of Naruto's left pant leg. The blonde had flipped around just as the blade moved, so his clothes would take the beating as opposed to his body.

The Uzumaki boy spun around, bringing his sword in close and twirled his wrist creating a wall of metal between him and the blow Sasuke had tried to slip in-between the blonde's ribs. The maneuver also gave Naruto an edge in speed, allowing him to swipe at Sasuke's legs.

With a hiss escaping his throat, Sasuke leapt back, blood dripping down the front of his exposed legs. There was a thin red line drawn horizontally across his thighs, mere fractions of an inch above his knees; any lower and the boy would be bleeding out at the bottom of the lake now.

Neither face betrayed a single though. Naruto, despite the turmoil in his heart and mind, was a stone façade on the exterior, and Sasuke, despite the pain shooting through his legs displayed nothing.

So, Naruto mused, He may have that Sharingan, but he lacks experience. He may be able to see something coming, but that doesn't mean he'll know what to do or have the speed to react. I have him there at least, but I don't know what this seal lets him do…

Sasuke grinned across at Naruto. "It's obvious I've yet to grow into this new body," he said, "But don't worry, I'll get used to it quickly, and it's sure to house a few secrets. I think I may even-"

Naruto whirled around to block the attack. Sasuke had stopped in mid speech to swing around Naruto's flank and take aim at his throat. The valley rung again with the musical clash of the swords as the flat of Naruto's blade smacked him in the forehead. He'd not been expecting an attack and didn't have time to parry properly.

Sasuke took full advantage of Naruto's distraction and struck again. Naruto tried to dodge, but this time the blade was too quick and slipped through his guard, slicing open his left wrist.

Naruto cursed, but performed one quick seal. Immediately Sasuke's vision of his rival was blotted out by a tremendous fireball roaring towards him. The Uchiha gaped but leapt to the side as the attack burned harmlessly by him into the lake.

Naruto and Sasuke were now standing a few strides apart, glaring at each other. Naruto's eyes were darting between Sasuke's sword and his badly bleeding wrist. He was pumping chakra into it, as much as he normally would to close a wound that size, but the skin was refusing to seal up. Sasuke on the other hand had ripped off the sleeves of his shirt and was tying the fabric around his legs like a bandage.

"I'm guessing," said Sasuke as much to himself as to Naruto, "that wounds from these blades are not going to heal well… if at all. You seem to be having as much trouble as I am."

Naruto gave up on trying to heal his wrist and spat into the water. All the more reason, he mentally groaned, why I should just end this… why can't I…

"No more words," growled Naruto.

In a flash they were at it again. Naruto and Sasuke were darting around the lake's basin like angry hornets locked in a dance. The ring of the ancient metal blades clashing together was growing more and more constant and loud. Soon the rings were becoming deeper and more intense as each competitor pushed their bodies to greater lengths.

To describe the action blow by blow would be a book in and of itself. Lightning flashed from the water's surface as Sasuke struck out with a Chidori and Naruto rolled to the side avoiding it by mere inches. Fire roared as the demonic chakra all around Naruto began to take on a life of its own and lash around with the two tails. If Sasuke tried to feint and get behind Naruto he'd instantly be driven back to a forward assault by the thrashing whips of chakra.

Explosions rocked the lake and sent tremors throughout the massive stone walls behind the two boys, soon followed by the clash of the swords as each tried to throw the other off balance and move in for the killing blow. Firebolts ripped through the sky as Sasuke leapt through the air and Naruto tried to pick him off with blasts of the demonic chakra. Each shot missed by the width of a finger as Sasuke's Mangekyou gave him the slightest advantage over Naruto's attacks of raw force.

Sasuke landed about thirty feet behind Naruto and spun, unleashing a torrent of shuriken enveloped in white fire racing for Naruto's back. The blonde spun around, sweeping his foot across the water's surface to kick up a wall between him and the missiles.

The shuriken cut straight through the water slowed by only by the smallest degree and still burning with Sasuke's fire, but that slight change in speed was all Naruto needed. He fell backwards onto the water and dove underneath as the missiles buzzed by overhead.

The blonde straightened himself out and kicked madly, propelling himself towards Sasuke like a torpedo, using the water all around that his chakra was flash boiling to mask his approach. He sped underneath the unsuspecting Uchiha and burst up behind him. Naruto roared and slashed ferociously down on Sasuke, knocking the midnight blade from his hand and catching him completely off guard.

Sasuke cursed as Naruto gripped him by the collar of his shirt and spun around. Naruto flung the Uchiha into the air and jumped up after him, flipping backwards and kicking him in the stomach as the sounds of snapping bones rung in both their ears. Sasuke soared even higher.

Naruto fell back to the surface of the lake, landing gracefully and looked skywards where he could see Sasuke, nearly one hundred feet up, was still moving upwards. The blonde dropped his hands to his side and closed his eyes as the demon chakra coalesced in the palms of his hands.

The energy spun in a vortex, forming into two bloody Rasangens that cast their angry red light all throughout the valley and turned the lake into blood. Naruto roared, a single tear escaping his eye as he flung the two attacks up after Sasuke. Like spears flying towards a wounded bird they left fiery tails in their wake. At the same time, Naruto concentrated on Sasuke as he performed a lightning fast series of hand seals. The gravity technique would ram him into the Rasangens like a meteor and it would be over, Naruto told himself.

Sasuke opened his eyes and clutched his ribs. Naruto's kick was monstrously powerful, but the blue haired boy had bigger problems to worry about over a few pulverized bones. He could feel Naruto's special jutsu making him infinitely more heavy than he should be, and by the look of the two fiery Rasangen rocketing towards him, Naruto meant to end this quickly.

"Shit!" Sasuke spat, putting out his hand as the chidori's blinding lightning screamed to life.

Naruto looked away as an enormous fireball erupted in the sky, blasting the water's surface and propelling every cloud out of the sky. The valley's walls were bleached as white as bone from the intensity of the heat as the fireball began to fall to the surface, burning itself out until there was nothing left but a giant cloud of superheated smoke looming in the air.

He coughed once on the smoke that was now permeating the air, but Naruto made no other movements. For several minutes he could neither hear nor smell Sasuke for the rumbling and choking smoke. He could see nothing that wasn't directly in front of him, and after a long silence, he turned to walk away, hoping to find one of the valley's walls so he could climb out.

"Mission accomplished," he muttered emotionlessly.

Suddenly, all the breath was knocked out of Naruto and a searing pain ripped through his chest. As he glanced down he could see a dark spire protruding from the direct center of his torso, covered in his blood and smoking with purple chakra.

He could feel the blood spray from the wound as his heart seemed to burst in a violent convulsion and he could hear it spatter and drip into the lake. The attack however had come from behind, and while he could feel that something cold had completely run him through, entering just beside his spine, passing through his heart, and exiting out his sternum, Naruto couldn't see the hands that held the midnight blade.

Naruto gasped in pain as the blade wrenched him off his feet and carried him up into the smoky air. For what seemed like hours Naruto could feel the life draining out of his body, but could still see nothing but billowing clouds of blackness. The warm blood dripping down his front and sticking his clothes to his skin was unnoticed in the face of the pain that rocketed through Naruto's body every time he pumped his blood a little longer with chakra alone acting like a pseudo-heart.

Suddenly he was made to blink. He had broken through the smoke and was two hundred feet up in the air. He looked down and his head actually spun from the height and he watched the stream of blood drip down like a tiny fountain before it disappeared into the gloom.

Naruto again groaned in pain as the blade he was hung on twisted around, bring Naruto face to mangled face, with Sasuke. The Uchiha was fuming, his face wrenched by both wounds and a glare. The brown skin, or patches of it, had been ripped away from his face, exposing Sasuke's normal pale complexion underneath.

Naruto glanced down and Noticed Sasuke was holding him up with one hand. His left hand was completely gone at the wrist, and his one good arm was crushed and barely usable from the looks of things. All in all, Sasuke had not fared well in the face of the Rasangens. The difference Naruto was too dazed to notice however, were the two enormous leathery wings that had emerged from Sasuke's back and now kept the pair suspended in the sky.

"Mission accomplished?!?" hissed the Uchiha, "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!?!"

Naruto's head lolled back as he lost the energy to keep himself upright. The amber blade slipped from his hand and fell back into the cloud.

"I should have known you were only here to kill me," growled Sasuke, "All that bullshit about family… But now, there's nothing to stand between me and my destiny." Sasuke wrenched Naruto's body free of the midnight sword and just watched as the blonde fell into the cloud of choking debris. Though by now the cloud had thinned enough that Sasuke could actually see the surface of the lake and watch as Naruto fell towards it.

It was only a few seconds of freefall. Naruto marveled at how quickly he was losing feeling all throughout his body as he ran out of strength to keep his blood flowing. The cold water seemed to race up and slap against his back as he crashed into it with a splash.

Sasuke hovered above the translucent cloud of smoke as he watched Naruto bob a few times in the water before sinking beneath the waves. "Fuck it," he cursed, his eyes wildly darting between Naruto and the Northern Horizon. He started to dart off towards the North East once or twice, but both times he stopped to look back at where Naruto was falling into the gloom. "God damn it," he growled angrily as he reached into his pocket folded his wings.

Naruto knew it was useless to try and heal the gaping hole in his chest. Even if he could, he had still lost so much blood. He wouldn't have the strength to swim to shore. Sinking beneath the waves, which he could see were taking on a reddish tint, he just let the water have him. Naruto closed his eyes and almost welcomed the cold.

Maybe it's better, he thought to himself, to feel nothing at all rather than all of this…

A splash rippled through the water as something dove in above him. A few seconds later, an icy hand grasped Naruto's shoulder and began pulling him towards the surface. As an arm curled around his stomach and his head broke above the waves, he could feel some kind of warm energy being forced into the hole in his chest. The wound wasn't closing up, but what little blood he had left was pumping again and some kind of pill was being pushed into his mouth.

SC

Kakashi raced through the dense forest, Sakura hot on his heels with a medical kit slung across her back. The two of them had been running for nearly two hours by this point, not counting the few minutes they stopped to examine the battle-ripped clearing a few miles back. They had found four bodies there, each one wearing a tan tunic with a purple sash, and the Jounin recognized the corpses as some of the ninja who had helped Orochimaru attack the Third.

"It looks like Naruto caught them by surprise," Sakura remembered her master saying as he examined one of the destroyed corpses. "And he made very short work of them all, judging by the proximity of the bodies to one another. From here he must've chased Sasuke towards the border."

Sakura couldn't help but smile when Kakashi had said that Naruto made short work of the dead sound nin. She knew those bastards were the ones who sealed the Hokage's fate by keeping any help from reaching him, though it bothered her to no end that Naruto was pursuing Sasuke to the edge of the country, a point nearly beyond any aid.

"We're almost there," said Kakashi, looking at his student.

"Almost where?" asked Sakura, "to the border?"

Kakashi nodded, "the Valley of the End. It's the most extreme edge of the Fire Country's territory, and I'm sure it's where we'll find Naruto and Sasuke."

"I hope so," Sakura swallowed hard. "I hope they're both ok."

Kakashi didn't answer as the two ninja broke through the trees. They were standing on the edge of the cliff overlooking the enormous lake at the bottom the roaring falls, and could easily see that things were not right. Neither Sasuke nor Naruto were anywhere to be seen, and the surface of the water was clouded and murky.

"Follow me," said Kakashi, "but keep your eyes open for any trouble at all."

Sakura nodded and followed Kakashi down a narrow and winding trail that lead to the thin beach surrounding the lake. The trip down would have been perilous for anyone less than a ninja. The path was little more than an outcropping of rock, and the beach below was covered in small stones as opposed to sand.

"Oh my god," Sakura gasped, "there!"

Immediately the pink haired girly took off at a run towards a small boulder protruding from the side of the cliff. Kakashi was beside her in an instant as they arrived at the rock. The blonde ninja laying beside the projection of stone was easy enough to miss, but the light of the sun glinting off the edge of the amber blade laying beside him was more than enough to catch anyone's attention.

"Naruto," barked Kakashi, kneeling beside him as Sakura stood beside them, nearly crying, "Naruto! Can you hear me?"

The boy didn't answer, so Kakashi tore open his shirt and began to look over his injuries.

"Impossible," muttered the Jounin, looking at the slitted hole that ran all the way through Naruto's chest, "There's no way he should be alive."

But somehow, Naruto was breathing. He was pale and unmoving, but he wasn't dead.

"There's a wound running all the way through him," said Kakashi, examining the situation quickly, "Sakura, we have to bandage this up, but before that we need to make sure his heart is going to last until we get him back to Konoha. I need you to-"

Sakura was one step ahead of him. Her hands were trembling with fear, but she had worked through the horror and rummaged around in her pack for the clotting agent and the gauze she knew her mentor was asking for.

"Thank you," said the Jounin, taking the supplies from his student and setting to work to stabilize Naruto's condition.

As Kakashi worked, Sakura stood by protectively and watched over Naruto. There was a harrying desire in the back of her mind to clutch him up and cry for him, but she knew that this was no time for tears. Her first priority was to get him back to Konoha, and she was going to see it done.


AN: Well, there you have the conclusion of Chapter Twenty-Eight. Twenty-Nine isn't going to be so much a chapter as it is an Epilogue for Book One, which will also lead into Book Two. Look for the Second installment, ShaddowDawning, after the posting of the Epilogue. And before you say anything, yes Sasuke's character was waffling a little bit between Orochimaru and Sasuke. Maybe that will come into play later ;)

Thanks for reading, and Reviews for me please!