More Thank Friends

by Stephen Asher

After bizarre events lead Naruto away from home, Naruto realises the only one left to turn to is Sasuke. Will Sasuke accept Naruto for who he is? Read more and find out!

More Than Friends

By Stephen Asher

"We all tend to travel in the same circle of family, friends, even enemies throughout our various lives. On some level, we recognise each other's souls so we can keep finding each other, hence the meaning of soul mates." - Constance M. Burge

Chapter 1

"WHO ARE YOU!" Naruto screamed from the now destroyed Hidden Leaf Village. The pink figure in front him was silent. The figure lunged at him again. "UGH, DAMN IT!" screamed Naruto again. "IF IT'S A FIGHT THAT YOU WANT THEN YOU'RE GONNA' GET IT!" he summoned his remaining chakra that he had left and ran toward his enemy with rage filled eyes. "RASENGAN!" Naruto yelled. The view of his opponent became concealed by a bright blue and pink light followed by smoke. Weird? Naruto thought. Were they summoning something? The smoke disappeared and all that remained was a pink diamond gemstone. Where did the enemy go? Naruto walked over, picking up and now inspecting the rock more. Whatever it was, it doesn't seem dangerous anymore? Right? The gem started floating above Naruto, illuminating him in a bright pink light. "Welcome" stated a strange voice. "Preparing to update and repair this diamond, Scanning in progress." "I'm sorry for the trouble this defective diamond has brought you. For diamonds that are exhibiting problems this severe, rejuvenation is sought. When the process is complete she will obey you without fail, do not worry, your diamond will be better than new!"

Naruto had no idea what to make of all this, he became bewildered, yet entranced bathing in this pink light. He didn't know why but something was telling him to touch it. Naruto reached out and cupped the stone between his hands. It felt cold to the touch. "Please identify yourself?", came the strange voice once again. "Naruto Uzumaki" Naruto stuttered. He didn't know why but for some reason he felt compelled to cooperate and obey. "Greetings, Naruto Uzumaki!" said the voice, "Please State your preferred customisation options?" customisation options? Naruto thought. What the heck is that! "What Am I supposed to say here!" Naruto said out aloud. "Default settings selected. Please stand by" Naruto's head became packed with all these memories. Places, people, smells that where unfamiliar to him. The sound of silence was now replaced with a loud screeching noise, like nails on a chalk board. And that was all Naruto remembered before falling into a deep slumber.

Chapter 2

Naruto stared at his reflection in the water for what seemed like the trillionth time this week. It'd had only been a week but so much of his appearance had changed. He was pink, LIKE EVERYWHERE! His hair, his skin, even his eyes, which used to shine a brilliant blue now emanating a baby pink hue. It didn't bother him too much, he liked his new look. Naruto stuttered out of his daydream. He ruffled his bright pink hair and decided to take a break from his training to eat some lunch. He set out his blanket and began unpacking his favourite lunch. He'd packed some miso ramen with pork, dango with chocolate sauce and finally some fresh milk. He looked around at the now deserted Hidden Leaf Village Training Field. It was the only thing that had survived the aftermath of the destruction. He glanced over at where the village used to be. He was thinking about everyone that had died to protect him during the fight. Sakura, Kakashi, Tsunade, Iruka, Jiraiya: those where only of a few to name but a hundred. Naruto could feel the tears beginning to stream down his face. His stomach began to glow.

It did this on rare occasion. Though, Naruto noticed this only happened when he became distressed or angry or both. "WHO ARE YOU!" Naruto yelled aloud. "WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME! WASN'T IT ENOUGH THAT YOU HAD TO KILL MY FRIENDS! I WISH THAT YOU WOULD LEAVE ME ALONE!" he began to sob now. That was when he saw it; some sort of flash in his mind that he couldn't quite explain. He saw a pair of eyes and then colours: white, yellow and blue. He looked down at his stomach to see the glowing had now stopped. He put a hand on the cold stone examining it. He had wondered on many occasion what might happen if he tried to pull it out. But every time he tried he felt a sharp pain and was too frightened to continue tugging anymore. It was like it was part of him now. "HEY! HEY NARUTO!" came a voice, bringing Naruto away from his thoughts. Naruto lifted his head, a big grin filling his face. It was Hiroto! Hiroto lived in the neighbouring village a-ways nearby. He was a few years younger than Naruto but Naruto still considered him a friend.

Hiroto reminded Naruto so much of Konohamaru. "Hey Hiroto!" Naruto exclaimed while nudging the boy on the arm, "What are you doing here? I thought that you and your dad where heading off for a mission?" he asked. "Oh, we are, but dad said that your also going on a mission of your own, too! He said that your off to finally find Sasuke! Is that true!" the boy questioned? "My! News doesn't half spread fast does it little one!" He ruffled the younger boys hair. The boy smiled up at Naruto "Yes, it's true, I'm afraid. Theres nothing left holding me here anymore." he glanced over again at the destroyed village. Hiroto looked over in Naruto's direction with a sad realisation. "But, big brother!" Hiroto's eyes began to well up with tears. "You can't leave! Who's gonna talk to me and train with me!" Hiroto began to cry. "Please don't cry little brother! Come here!" Naruto wrapped the younger Genin in a tight hug. Naruto was crying now, too. "I don't want you to leave Naruto! Can't I come with you!" wailed Hiroto. "I don't want to leave either, but listen, ok? Hey, look at me." Hiroto looked up at Naruto with tear filled eyes.

"You wouldn't want to leave your father, would you?" asked Naruto. "Ugh, No." replied Hiroto. "You see? He couldn't leave you, either. He doesn't want to split-up from you. Don't worry, you'll see me again! It's not as if this is goodbye forever." Naruto said. "But, Naruto! You might forget me!" cried Hiroto, hugging onto Naruto tighter. "No way! I'd never do that. I won't forget you, I promise!" Naruto hugged Hiroto tighter back. "You mean it?" asked Hiroto sniffling away. "You're a worrywart. Like somebody else I know." Naruto was thinking of Sakura. "In that case, here, take this. Its proof that I promise never to forget." Naruto began putting his hands through his shining rosy hair untying his headband. It was proof of his undying devotion to his ninja village. His hair fell down onto his face. "Even if my memory is going, if you show me this, I'll remember right away." Naruto said. He held Hiroto's hands and cupped them around the headband. Hiroto looked up at Naruto with surprise. "I can have this?" he asked. "It belongs to you now and you'd better take good care of it. It's very important to me!" replied Naruto.

"Okay. Thank you, Naruto! You better come and see me soon ok!" Growled Hiroto. "I will, I promise look, I cross my heart and I give you my word, but until I do, take care, ok?" Naruto said. "Oh, I will! Believe it!" both of the boys began to laugh. Hiroto reminded Naruto so much of his younger self. He was so very cheeky. "Hey, Naruto before you head off, I wanted to give you this." Hiroto began rummaging in his bag for something. Hiroto pulled out a box of cookies." Ah, you know these are my favourite! Thanks Hiroto!" he ruffled the boys hair again. "I knew you'd like them!" grinned the boy. "Anyway Naruto, my dad will be wondering where I've gotten too! I promise you, I'll keep this safe!" He said, clutching onto his headband while starting to walk off. "Goodbye, Naruto! Take care!" Hiroto waved as him and Naruto finally parted ways.

Chapter 3

Naruto opened his eyes to find himself in a dome like control room. It was the brightest white he had ever seen. He could see a control station at the end of the room with buttons all over it. It looked like he was in a foreign planet with spaceships flying everywhere around him. They weren't focused on him though. They were too busy extracting something. "There will be no more excuses! Get it done!" bellowed a voice that Naruto recognised. "And don't expect me to look kindly upon this transgression! Embark at once!" screamed the tall yellow figure. "Yellow?" Naruto called out. "What are you talking about?" he asked? "Huh? Yes, I know that there's organic life on the surface, It's an invasion!" ignored Yellow. "HEY YELLOW! WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!" yelled Naruto? Nope. Still no response. "You will stick to MY orders and you will destroy them!" yelled Yellow, again. "Ugh, I hate it when she ignores me!" Naruto thought. He began to climb his way up the control station to reach Yellow. "I will not repeat myself! Land the drop-ships and do your pathetic job for once! Or I'll shatter you and your crew myself!"

shouted Yellow. Naruto jumped high and landed himself on Yellow's shoulder. He moved her communicator away from her ear. "HEY YELLOW! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" Yellow's eyes opened wide in anger. "Honey, please. Give me a moment." Yellow picked Naruto off of her shoulder and placed him on the ground again. Naruto started climbing his way back up. He didn't know why he was doing this, his body was reacting as if he was a puppet. "Hey Yellow!" chimed Naruto once he reached the top. "Oh, your still here," muttered Yellow. "What are you doing?" asked Naruto? "I'm commanding the drop-ships to colonise this planet," replied Yellow. "I WANNA COMMAND A DROP-SHIP!" yelled Naruto. "Well, when you have your own colony, you can command whatever you want!" replied Yellow. "I want a colony!" pleaded Naruto. Yellow began pressing buttons on her machine, ignoring Naruto's plea. "I want one NOW!" Naruto repeated. A screen popped up which grabbed Naruto's attention. "What's this!" Naruto asked amazed. "I'm contacting the leader of the fleet," replied Yellow. "Let me do it!" Naruto's eyes lit up as he began pressing any and every button on the large screen. He felt himself getting tugged away.

"DON'T TOUCH THAT!" yelled Yellow. "Ugh, why not!" Naruto replied, "You have so many world's and I don't even have ONE! It's not fair! I want ONE!" he stomped. "I want my own ARMY!" he stoped again. "I want my own PLANET! I deserve it! I'm as important as YOU!" Naruto screamed at the top of his lungs. "Then why don't you act like it PINK!" yelled Yellow. Naruto walked off. He could feel his inner rage at boiling point. Without any pre-warning his hand flew in front of him. It made contact with the control room's glass wall. It was then that he finally noticed his appearance had changed. He recognised this person. It was the enemy who destroyed the village! Naruto startled awake. He was now in a different room, one like the control room before. Was he dreaming? What the hell was going on? A voice caught his attention. "But this is what you wanted! You begged us for a colony of your own! And now all you want to do is be rid of it!" came the voice. He recognised the voice and the face of who it was coming from. It was Blue Diamond. Yellow Diamond was here too.

Naruto couldn't understand why he knew who they where? He'd never met them before. The voice continued. "First, there where too many organics. Then their cities where too difficult to dismantle and now these ninja! We're tired of your excuses Pink!" Naruto gasped. It was Pink Diamond! "This Naruto Uzumaki can't hurt you! You can't afford to get distracted by a few misbehaved ninja!" Pink Diamond raised her head to speak. Blue Diamond raised her hand. "ENOUGH!" she yelled. "You must understand, you are a Diamond. Everyone in this planet is looking to you. You don't even have to do anything. Smile and wave, show everyone that you will not become perturbed by this little uprising. Your people will fall into line and these ninja will be no more! As long as you are there to rule this colony, it will complete." Blue and Yellow began to walk away. From behind the silhouette of Pink Diamond came a shadow that Naruto knew only too well. It was Naruto himself! Naruto watched as the shadow drew his signature Rasengan and lunged at Pink Diamond. Naruto startled awake again, this time in his own tent outside the woods. He was safe for now.

Chapter 4

It felt as if Naruto had been walking through the forest for years, though in reality it had only been an hour or two. He had heard some news a few villages back about Sasuke's location and was heading there now. He was so hungry. It'd been a few hours since his last meal and he was feeling so starved. It was then that he realised Hiroto's cookies were still in his bag. He lunged in his bag grabbing the box and inhaling a cookie immediately. Ugh, he forgot how delicious they where. It was then that Naruto noticed the pink glow and shield protruding out of his stomach. He fell back in panic. The shield exploded forward picking up momentum and decimating the trees in front of him. Before Naruto could even react he noticed a tree falling in his direction. He cowered down in front of it, expecting to become flattened by it. After a few seconds Naruto opened his eyes to see a spiky pink ball covering his surroundings. He moved out the way and popped the bubble. Where these his new powers? He recognised them from his previous fight with Pink Diamond.

Naruto still couldn't quite get his head around what had happened to them both. He knew they where part of each other, he didn't know how or why? Pink Diamond was gone. but even so, Naruto seemed to still have some of her powers, memories and pink appearance. Naruto thought of his life not so long ago with the Nine Tailed Fox. It had been a year since the extraction of the beast but to Naruto it felt like yesterday. The Council of Elders had decided that it was in Naruto's and the village's best interest and safety to have the fox extracted and removed. Kurama was then sealed within the Amber Purification Jar. At the time, although he felt sad he also felt free. He couldn't say the same thing for himself anymore. Naruto looked at his map. It looked like it would be a few hours until he reached The Uchiha Hideout. Naruto had heard rumours from inside spies of The Akatsuki. Today was the day Sasuke was planning to kill Itatchi. He didn't quite know how he was going to persuade Sasuke to come home with him. He thought that the best plan of action would be to team up with Sasuke to further the chances of Itatchi's defeat.

Weather Sasuke would comply or not would be a different matter. After a few more hours of walking Naruto came up to a giant building. He found a gap in the stone wall and preceded to sneak inside. It felt like a maze inside! After every twist and turn of each corridor it only felt as if it was only getting longer. Naruto didn't even know if this was the right building to look for in the first place! As he was edging closer to a doorway Naruto could hear the sound of birds chirping. He recognised the sound all too well, it was Sasuke's Chidori! It had felt like so long since Naruto had seen his friend. "Sasuke! I'm here to help!" Naruto yelled, as he ran through the door. He stopped dead in his tracks. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Itatchi had his hand through Sasuke's chest. Sasuke was dead.

Chapter 5

"YOU BASTARD!" Screamed Naruto. Itatchi, surprised to see Naruto transformed himself into a flock of birds and flew away. "YOU COWARD!" Naruto cried. He knelt down cupping Sasuke's face in his hands. "Sasuke! I'm here! Please stay with me!" Naruto pleaded, crying. Sasuke eyes opened, he was alive, but he would be dead soon. "Naruto, you idiot! What are you doing here!What happened to you? Why do you look like that?" Sasuke asked. He was starting to breathe heavy now. "Shhhh, too many questions, steady you're breathing. It's a long story but I'm here to help you Sasuke!" cried Naruto. "Hah. I don't need your help! I'm doing fine on my own!" Sasuke scowled. He began coughing up blood. Naruto held him closer. "Yeah it looks like it." Naruto laughed through his tears, a few of them dropping on Sasuke's wound. It was then that Naruto could feel Sasuke loosening from his grip. He looked up to see Sasuke basked in a pink light. After a few moments of hovering he fell back down getting caught back in Naruto's arms. "Naruto, what did you do! My wound! You saved me." Sasuke had his hand over where his wound used to be, looking at Naruto with a mixture of shock and surprise.

"I don't know!" Naruto replied in surprise. "I didn't want you to die!" Sasuke pushed Naruto away in anger. "But why! Why are you so obsessed with our bond! Why won't you cut your ties and let me go into the darkness!" Sasuke yelled in rage. "Because you're my friend!" Naruto yelled back. He couldn't hold the tears back any longer, he was sobbing by this point. "No, its more than that. Sasuke I-". He couldn't finish the sentence. He knew what he wanted to say, he didn't know if he should say it. "You WHAT! WELL, WHAT IS IT? YO-," "I LOVE YOU, SASUKE!" Naruto interrupted, falling to his knees. The room was silent. Naruto could hear footsteps coming towards him. He could feel Sasuke's hand cupping his chin and pushing his face up so he was making eye contact. Naruto looked up at Sasuke expecting to see hate filled eyes. This was different, though. He looked calm, happy even. Sasuke moved forward placing a kiss on Naruto's mouth. Naruto kissed Sasuke back putting his hands through his hair and holding him tight. Both of the boys where too busy to notice Naruto's gem glowing pink.

It was at this moment, lurking from the shadows, Itatchi was taking aim with a kunai paper bomb. He threw the weapon, multiplying it whilst in the air. Itatchi was sure this would kill them. The object made contact with the boys exploding on impact. Itatchi smiled with intense satisfaction. Both Naruto and Sasuke were dead.

Chapter 6

Itatchi couldn't believe his eyes. The shadow of Naruto and Sasuke had disappeared in place of the shadow of a new person. Naruto and Sasuke had… fused! But how! What was this! "What are you!" Itatchi screamed. "I am… Love. But YOU can call me Nasuke!" Nasuke gave Itatchi a thumbs up and a wink. Scanning the being, Itatchi could see striking similarities between Sasuke and Naruto! It was as if it was their child standing in front of him. Nasuke had blonde hair with Sasuke's hair style. He had permanent Sharingan, and whiskers like Naruto. Nasuke was wearing Naruto's signature orange and black jacket for the top half. The bottom half had Sasuke's signature wrap-around and purple bow. He also had Sasuke's arm bracelets and sword. Nasuke yawned. "So are you gonna' stand there looking frightened or actually fight me?" Itatchi growled. He lunged forward preparing to attack the fusion. Without warning there was a sudden crashing through the Uchiha Hideout. Nasuke looked up in shock. He recognised the ship and knew exactly who it belonged to. "White Diamond!" Nasuke said in fear. He bent down in pain. He felt like he was… separating. With a poof of smoke he became unfused.

Sasuke and Naruto lay on the ground, Naruto curled in fright. A bubble appeared from underneath the ship. Out from the bubble came a white creature Naruto and Sasuke recognised as a Pearl. Sasuke had retained some of Naruto's memories after having fused with him. The memories which had belonged to Pink Diamond. The Pearl's hair was up in two buns and one of her eyes where missing leaving a crack behind in its absence. "Pink Diamond?" came the voice. "Your presence is being summoned." Naruto stood up, Sasuke was immediately by his side helping him up. "C'mon I'll be with you every step of the way!" he smiled cupping Naruto's face in his hand. Naruto smiled, comforted. "Only Pink Diamond's presence is necessary." The Pearl made its way beside Naruto encasing him in another white bubble. Sasuke fell to his knees. "NARUTO!" The bubble returned to the ship and the ship flew away faster than the speed of light. Naruto found himself dumped in a very white room. "PINK!" Gasped a voice Naruto recognised only too well. He turned around to see White Diamond. "There you are!" continued the voice. "Hello starlight! You gave everyone a scare! They're all thrilled to see you safe and sound!"

Naruto went to speak but White Diamond interrupted him. "As for this little game of yours, thank the stars its over! Did you have fun? Did you get everything out of your system?" Naruto went to speak but was once again interrupted. "Good, good. Everyone is so relived! Welcome home Pink!" Naruto fainted, swallowed in his own darkness. He was alone.