It was just the two of them.

Angry teal eyes stared into passive dark brown, neither of them moving a muscle. Sasuke had caught up to Gaara in no time, having pursued him sooner than his cannon self had. Sasuke steadied himself, and focused his rage and emotions down. He was calm, if not excited from everything that was happening.

They measured each other up, Sasuke prepping his arsenal and planning ahead. He had prepared to fight Gaara a second time, of course, for this very event. The Uchiha smirked at the Jinchuriki, who glared at him with rage.

"So... by any chance will be able to have a civilized conversation?" Sasuke asked just for kicks knowing perfectly well that wasn't going to be an option for the crazed sand nin.

"Kill... I'll... KILL YOU!" Gaara's body was half transformed, it was an almost sickening display, really. It just didn't look right, not to Sasuke anyways. The Uchiha moved, dodging the attacks from Gaara. Sand ripped through trees as Gaara's roars echoed through the forest.

Sasuke would have to remain on the defensive- if he used to much of his chakra then he could risk the same mistake cannon Sasuke made, and he'd end up paralyzed because of the stupid curse mark. He needed to buy time until Naruto arrived. Gaara's large claw like hand missed up by an inch, Sasuke tossed several paper bombs at the arm, and jumped behind a tree as they exploded.

How did Deidara beat Gaara again? Sand... clay... wait, he sacrificed his arm... yeah not doing that. I need to find a way to mix something explosive in with Gaara...

Sasuke dodged another attack, jumping, he threw some powder into the air, it fell into Gaara's sandy arm, Gaara payed no mind, continuing on his rampage. Sasuke scattered paper bombs, sometimes purposely missing Gaara's arm.

Dammit, stupid curse mark, I could use Chidori more if not for this thing. I need to figure out a way to attack Gaara in a manner that would cripple him temporarily. I could use lightning style attacks, to get rid of the sand. If only I could use my sharingan properly! For now I'll just have to hope this works.

With each attack, more and more powder was tossed throughout the forest and onto Gaara. Then Sasuke leapt onto a tree and made the hand signs. A burst of flames flew from his mouth, and the second the connected with Gaara as sand flew up in front of him.

The forest exploded.

Their was a loud bang that ripped through the forest, smoke filled the sky. Naruto and Sakura looked at the source of the massive explosion in alarm. "Sasuke... what is that idiot doing?!" Naruto exclaimed, before jumping forward at a much quicker pace than before.

"Kid, wait!"

More explosions ripped through the forest and the trees shook. "What did he do, drop bombs everywhere?" Sakura questioned nobody in particular. "His solution to every problem. Blow it up or burn it down, at this rate he'll burn the whole forest down. What an idiot." Sakura went on, though the worry was edged clearly into her voice.

Naruto grit his teeth and get moving. Sasuke was fighting Gaara all alone, and that curse mark weakened him a lot so he had trouble using his chakra. He only resort to tricks like this when he knows he out of his league or when he's weakened. He's already fought Gaara and he looked pretty tired, so this must be bad.

He was right. The second he arrived to the battle field, the scene was chaotic, and he didn't see Sasuke.

Tree were burning or knocked down, and there was a massive clearing where forest tree once grew, smoke filled the air and Gaara was in the center of his, growling looking like a wounded animal, before he set his eyes on Naruto.

"Kill. kill. I will kill... KILL KILL KILL ALL OF YOU!" He lashed out at the group, they scattered. "Where's Sasuke?" Naruto demanded. Pakku sniffed, smelling something.

Naruto nodded, looking at Gaara. "I'll distract Gaara, you guys get Sasuke." Sakura nodded, and took off following Pakku.

"I smell him... he's over there!" Pakku lead Sakura over to a few fallen trees, revealing underneath some fallen branches the Uchiha boy. He was wounded, with burns on his arms and legs, several cuts all over his body and he was bleeding from a gash on his head. Sakura felt her stomach drop at the sight of him.

He wasn't moving.

Sakura knelt down next the Uchiha, checking him over before she recoiled in horror. "No.."

"Sakura! He is he Ok!?" Naruto called over to Sakura, still blocking Gaara from attacking. Sakura looked up back at him, and Naruto felt his stomach fill with dread at the sight of her tear stained face. "He's.. not breathing."

Naruto stared at his friend, before turning towards the person responsible, a burning rage filling his gut, flowing through his body as he glared at the person responsible for hurting Sasuke.

"You.." The rage was overwhelming, it was spreading like a burning fire across his body. Sakura watch in horror as orange chakra began pouring out from the boy.

"I'LL KILL YOU!"

He was alone. In darkness... then a mirror of himself was in front of him. He stared at himself, only he wasn't himself. He was a girl, she looked at him with knowing eyes. "Am I dead?" He asked.

She looked towards another mirror, showing his burn and injured body. Sakura was frantically applying CPR, tears streaming down her face. "Sasuke! Come on! Come on! No! Don't go! Don't leave me! Sasuke please!"

He turned to the girl. "So I died?" She shook her head. "Not quite. You are in the in between. Your own privet bridge between life and dead. You came here once before, looking like her." She gestured to herself. S

asuke nodded. "I was her, in a past life... back when I was.. in the other world, I watched Sasuke. I remember everything... I asked to forget until I awakened the Sharingan, to have a chance of a normal childhood, to have... temporary peace. I was so scared."

She nodded. "Yes.. and you can choose again." Sasuke looked at her. "What?"

"You can choose to continued life... or move onto a new life. A peaceful life with no memory of your past lives, if that is what you wish. A fresh start." She offered.

Sasuke's eyed went wide at the possibility. A new chance at life?

A new, none stressful life with nowhere near the kind of pressure and responsibility this one has?

A life where he didn't have to betray his friends and his village to protect them.

A world where a snake man wasn't after his power. That would be a wonderful life indeed... ignorant of the pain he feels in this life...

"Sasuke!" He looked back at the mirror. Sakura was hugging his body now, sobbing. Behind her he could see Naruto, who's face was contorted in frightening rage and grief. Sasuke knew what choice he had to make.

"I'm going back."

The girl smiled. "I knew you would."

Sasuke walked towards the mirror, walking into the blinding light.

"I'll see you again soon, my friend."

Sasuke coughed, he felt a burning painful agony across his body, he knew he'd have to have some broken bones, but that wasn't the priority at the moment. He had to take care of the crying pinkette. "Sa... kura.. you;re.. squishing... me." Sakura pulled away, her eyes going wide before she let out a gasp. "Sasuke! Your alive!" She hugged him again, he grunted and she pulled back quickly. "I'm sorry! I thought you died!" She apologyzed as he sat up, wincing a the sharp pains ripping through his body.

"Where's Naruto? What happened?" He asked.

"Naruto.. he.. well after he saw you, he started using this orange chakra, and it was really scary, he started acting like an animal and his eyes turned red... he's fighting him. Gaara." Sasuke nodded. "Than we can only wait. I'm not even sure I can walk, let alone fight. Naruto is a Jincuriki same as Gaara." Sakura's eyes widened.

"Naruto's a Jinchuriki?" She questioned and the Uchiha grunted. "Hn. That's why the village hates him, because he's the container for the nine-tailed fox, so they think he is the fox. In reality, he's the only one keeping the fox from destroying everything, and he's the only one who can fight Gaara." Sakura looked in the direction Naruto was in, her eyes wide. "I never knew.."

Sasuke nodded. "He's been alone for so long, with this heavy burden that is his to bare. I think that Gaara and him have a lot more in common than you might think. Gaara is also a Jinchuriki.. and you can tell that his village probably treated him even worse than Naruto... just because he's different like that." Sasuke explained. Sakura looked at him.

"All of that pain of being the only one...the only one like you.. I know how it feels to be alone like that. The village hated the Uchiha to, after all."

Sakura looked down. "I see.. I never knew any of this.. how could I have been so blind... I'm sorry Sasuke, I never.." Sasuke wave her off. "It isn't me you should apologize to, Sakura." Sakura nodded.

"I know. I hope he's Ok."

"He'll be fine. There's no way Kurama would ever let himself loose to Shukaku, even through Jinchuriki."

"What?" Sakura looked at Sasuke in confusion. The Uchiha laughed. "I'll explain later."

Surprise! Apologies for taking so long for an update! Reviews are love, I'll have another chapter up tomorrow.