"Talking."
'Thinking.'
"Kyūbi/Jutsu."

A/N: Hey guys. I apologise for the longer wait than I was hoping, I just can't seem to stick to the schedule, huh? These last few weeks have been really hard for me though. My cat got really sick, we took her to the vet, he gave us medication to give her, but nothing really worked. We were on this for about 2 weeks, so I was pretty focused on that and then last Wednesday she suddenly got really, really sick. She wouldn't eat, she barely moved, and she didn't like it when we picked her up, so we rushed her to an emergency vet but despite their best efforts, she unfortunately passed away.

It was all very quick, so I didn't really get a lot of time to process what happened but now to try and move past this I've decided to try and distract myself with other things, including writing this fic. Thanks for always being patient with me and I hope you'll forgive me if the quality of this chapter isn't what it could be.

Chapter 25: Play with Fire, You're Gonna Get Burned

Uzumaki Naruto lightly jogged down her apartment building's steps and onto the street below, her necklace bouncing gently against her chest. Despite only receiving it recently the girl had already formed an attachment to it, the valuable piece of jewellery having never left her neck so far. The Kyūbi had teased her for it, saying that even though the Uzumaki would never admit it, she had grown to actually like the woman that gave it to her. Of course, the young girl was adamant that she didn't, but when you're a chakra beast that's over one thousand years old and stuck in the head of someone for thirteen years, you learn a thing or two about them. Including how to tell when they're lying.

Turning the corner, Naruto almost swore out loud as she came very close to running straight into a boy wearing a very familiar green jumpsuit. She shuddered as she thought about that monstrosity currently hanging up in her wardrobe. "Oh… good morning, Naruto-san."

The Uzumaki nodded back in greeting. "Hey Lee. So, did you get checked out by Tsunade? What did she say?" she asked upon noticing the crutch under his arm, but when Lee's face fell, she got her answer. "Ah, I see…"

Naruto felt a pang of sadness for the other ninja. While she herself had never received such a crippling injury before (and likely never will, thanks to her enhanced healing) she knew what it was like to feel so helpless, so broken. Feeling her hand twitch in a subconscious desire to comfort him, she clenched her fist instead, deciding it was probably better not to. If it was her in his shoes, the last thing she would want is pity. Just as she was about to continue on her way, his voice stopped her.

"Naruto-san, I was told that you were the one to stop him. Gaara, I mean. How did… how did that go?"

'"How did it go?"' she asked herself. "Uh… I dunno. I guess I really did knock some sense into him since apparently, he seemed quite… mellow, at the end, not at all like he was before. I kinda passed out and lost my memory of the last few minutes," she replied, scratching the back of her head. It wasn't technically a lie; it just wasn't the whole truth. 'I actually did something quite stupid and lost control of the most powerful source of chakra on this earth, but hey, it happens to the best of us,' she thought sarcastically.

"You could say that again," the Kyūbi huffed.

"Ah, I see. Thank you, Naruto-san. That… makes me feel a little better, I think," the boy said, a very small, but still noticeable smile appearing on his face. Before she could once again leave him and continue on her way, she heard her name being called by two people whose voices she instantly recognised.

"Naruto!" called Moegi and Udon, teammates of Konohamaru. The two academy students ran up to their role model, out of breath and worried expressions on their face. "It's Konohamaru-kun!"

"Huh? What about him?" she asked, turning to them.

"He's in trouble!" exclaimed Moegi.

"Omago-sama, please don't make us use force to get in there!" shouted Kotetsu, his partner Izumo still reeling from the pepper smoke bombs dropped from the ceiling a few moments ago. Turning to look at the Hokage, he started to go through hand signs at her nod of approval before a cry stopped him.

"Hold on!" demanded the young blonde girl as she quickly approached the group of ninja, two academy students following closely behind her.

"Naruto? What are you doing here?" asked Tsunade as she folded her arms, eyebrow raised quizzically.

Stopping in front of the door that the chūnin was just about to knock down, the girl threw her arms out to act as a barrier. "Now I'm not entirely sure what's going on here, but there's no need to be so rough with him. Sure, he may be a pain in the ass at the best of times but he's just a kid! A kid that only recently lost his grandfather, for Kami's sake, so give him a break!" she yelled, glaring at the ninja.

The two chūnin stepped back and once again looked at their Hokage for an indication on how to proceed. The woman herself stared down at Naruto, annoyed at being delayed further. "Is the boy a friend of yours?"

"Something like that," Naruto replied through clenched teeth, refusing to back down no matter what the Senju may try to do to remove her.

"Well he's preventing me from doing my job. You know, the job where I have to govern and lead the most powerful ninja village in the entire continent? Care to explain to me why your friend is pulling such a bold move?"

'Damn it, Konohamaru,' the Uzumaki internally cursed, gulping when she saw the sharp look in Tsunade's eyes. 'You really pissed off the wrong lady.'

"Look, when Jiji- I mean, the Sandaime was killed, Konohamaru took it the hardest. They were always really close, and he looked up to the guy, both as his grandfather and his hero. He's sad, and my guess is he's angry that everything is changing so quickly, so just give me a chance to talk to him, okay? I'll convince him to come out without having to hurt him," Naruto said the last part while glaring at Kotetsu who smiled sheepishly.

Tsunade hummed while mulling over Naruto's request in her head, weighing the pros and cons. On one hand, she would much prefer to have what she needed from the room as soon as possible, but on the other it probably wouldn't look good for a new Hokage to permit a chūnin to manhandle the late Hokage's nine-year-old grandson if it could be avoided. Also, having only really seen Naruto in physical action, the woman wondered what the girl's 'people skills' were like.

"Very well, you have until an hour to get him out or I will go in there myself. Shizune!" the Senju called her apprentice, the group of older ninja leaving the younger ones to carry out the task. Naruto turned back to the door, tightened her long gloves, and knocked hard.

"Come on, Konohamaru, it's time to come out!" the girl shouted before knocking again. No answer. "If you come out now, I'll treat you, Udon and Moegi to some ramen, including all the extra toppings you want!" still, no answer. "We haven't hung out in a while, so it'll be fun, yeah? We can even train for a bit!" once again, absolute silence. "At least answer me!"

"Shut up, you idiot!" the boy inside finally shouted back. The Uzumaki's eyebrows raised in surprise at Konohamaru's bold insult before that surprise turned into anger and her face twisted into a snarl.

"So that's what I get for trying the nice approach, huh?! Fine!" the Kyūbi jinchūriki stepped back and braced herself before running and shoulder barging the door. Of course, as the door to a room that held very important documents meant for the Hokage and trusted personnel only, it didn't budge at all. The next thing Naruto knew, she heard the click of a latch opening and suddenly something heavy fell on her head, sending her to the ground. And another. And another. And another.

"N… Naruto…" mumbled Moegi in concern, Udon slowly inching to stand behind his female teammate. Knowing the older kunoichi, he had a strong suspicion that she would not react well to that. In fact, the longer the girl stayed on the ground in silence, under all those metal pans, the more worried he got. After a few minutes, the two academy students took a step back when the Uzumaki slowly pushed the objects away and stood up, her face looking down and almost covered in darkness.

'I swear, to anything that may be listening up there, that when I get Konohamaru out he is going to wish it was Tsunade that was out here and not me.'

"'There's no need to be so rough with him, he's just a kid, give him a break'! Ha! What happened to your noble attitude?"

'… damn it.'

"Konohamaru open this door NOW!" shouted Naruto, pounding her fist on the hard wood multiple times. The blonde grit her teeth in frustration, stepping forward and letting her forehead rest on the door. Sighing, she decided it would probably be a good idea to attempt to get her anger under control. 'Breathe in… breathe out. In… out… in… out… okay, I'm good.'

"Just leave!" the boy on the other side shouted back.

"At least tell me why you're doing this? I mean I have a pretty good suspicion, but I'd like you to confirm it," the Uzumaki asked, her brow furrowing when all she heard in return was a mumble. "What was that? This door is pretty thick, doesn't let a lot of sound through."

"I said, this is Jiji's room, and I won't let anybody else use it, especially someone that's trying to so easily replace him!"

Naruto huffed, looking up at the door again. "Konohamaru, listen, no one is trying to replace-"

"Yes, they are! It's barely been anytime at all and they've already found someone without any kind of… process! They're taking his stuff away and that woman is going to be wearing his robe and hat soon while sitting in his chair! They're all acting like he's completely gone, but he's not! He's here… he's still… he's still here!" even though Naruto couldn't see him, she probably wasn't wrong to assume the boy was clutching his chest where his heart would be. That's what she would be doing, anyway. The girl sighed as she turned her back to the door and slid down, unknowingly mimicking the position Konohamaru was in on the other side.

"Please believe me when I say this, Konohamaru: no one is trying to replace the Sandaime. Yes, the position of Hokage must be filled, but no one is going to look at Tsunade and think 'she's the new Sarutobi Hiruzen'. His legacy will forever be unique, safe and most importantly, never forgotten. He truly was a one-in-a-million man, both in his strength but also his character. He was incredibly strong and fierce in his protectiveness of others, but also the kindest, most gentle old man to those closest to him. He…" the kunoichi paused, swallowing the lump in her throat and fighting back the tears that threatened to fall. "He meant so much to everyone in this village, but especially to us. I know what you're going through, Konohamaru. I feel his loss every single day. I wake up, look outside, see his face on the mountain and I feel that pain all over again. You're not alone."

Naruto tapped her fingers on her knees, waiting to hear the boy's response while ignoring the sad, empathetic faces of Moegi and Udon. While it wasn't ideal opening herself up like that in front of others, she would make an exception this time. For Konohamaru. She always called him annoying, a pain, arrogant and foolish but… she would be a liar if she said there wasn't a soft spot in her heart for him. It's true that he was all of the things previously stated but on top of that, he was also kind to his friends, hard-working (once she beat the 'easy way to Hokage' mentality out of him), eager to prove himself and he reminded her of herself, some time ago. Naïve and bright-eyed. She hoped he never lost that, like she did, in this cold and unforgiving world.

"Does it ever… get better? The pain?" she heard a meek voice ask from the other side.

"No, it doesn't… but over time, you get better at dealing with it," she replied, thinking back to her own past and how she currently lives with it. It took a few moments but eventually she heard some rustling before the click of a lock turning. Leaning forward so she didn't fall due to the sudden loss of the weight behind her, Naruto turned her head in surprise to see Konohamaru standing there, one hand on the door and the other clenched tightly around the end of his long blue scarf. Quickly standing up, Naruto felt the presence of the other two academy students move behind her, greeting Konohamaru with smiles on their faces. "Hey," said the Uzumaki, the corner of her mouth turning up slightly.

The boy didn't say a word but the tear trailing down his cheek said it all. Before Naruto could say anymore comforting words, Konohamaru launched himself at her, his arms wrapping around her waist and his head resting against her chest, under her chin, the tears now freely flowing and making her shirt a little damp. Not that she really minded… this time. Naruto, still not that comfortable with hugs, awkwardly held her arms in the air, not quite sure what to do with them when suddenly Moegi and Udon joined their friend, also wrapping their arms around the blonde.

The kunoichi sighed, resigning herself to the situation at hand. Deciding it best to just flow with it, she lowered her arms to gently pat their heads, allowing the three to make themselves comfortable for a bit. She supposed she would have appreciated someone being there for her like this when she was their age. While Anko and Ibiki were great, they weren't the most 'touchy-feely' kind of people, and the Sandaime couldn't always be around for her. He had the busiest job in the whole village, after all. Iruka was the only one to really be physically affectionate with her, as much as a teacher and student could anyway.

Watching the whole thing unfold from a hidden place was Senju Tsunade herself. The woman did leave Naruto to her own devices for a time, but she quickly returned to see how the girl would deal with the issue. Smiling to herself at the surprising display of empathy, the new Hokage quietly took her leave to go find a bar she could sit and study in before her apprentice inevitably found her.

…

"Should uh… probably deal with the traps I set up in the room. You know, exploding tags are pretty dangerous."

"… say sike right now."

Later that day…

Sitting in the hospital bed, counting down the hours until he was to be discharged, was Uchiha Sasuke. It had been almost a week since his brother put him into a semi-vegetative state with his genjutsu and since waking from it he had been itching to get back out there and resume training. All these days just laying in bed will have set him too far back and it would take weeks of constant work to get to where he needed to be. He had tried to sneak out a few times but that woman that came with Tsunade (Shizune, he wondered?) would quickly be alerted and would send hospital staff after him. One time the woman found him and dragged him back to the hospital herself. That was an experience he never wanted to repeat.

Sasuke's eyes shot to the door when he heard the footsteps of one- no, two people coming up the corridor. He recognised the first set to belong to his teammate, Haruno Sakura, as she had been visiting him often enough that he was now familiar with the speed at which she walked and how she would usually make a light humming sound with her mouth. He wasn't sure who the other person was until they were both at the door, their shadows coming up through the glass. Judging by the round silhouette of someone with a ponytail, and the fact that they were at least four inches shorter than his pink-haired teammate, the boy concluded that the extra guest was his other teammate: Uzumaki Naruto.

'Naruto…' he thought, his eyes narrowing. She had managed to defeat Gaara while even his Chidori, arguably his now most powerful jutsu, barely did anything against him. On top of that, she had summoned a snake that was big and powerful enough to take on Gaara while using all of the Ichibi's power, as well as having that chakra cloak…

Sasuke was no fool, he knew that, like Gaara, Naruto had a Tailed Beast inside her. He also wasn't deaf, he heard the Suna ninja shout 'Kyūbi' while he and Sakura were fighting the puppet user. It really wasn't that hard to put those two things together, and when he thought back further it all became so much clearer. The day Naruto was born was the same day as the Kyūbi's attack on the village. The Yondaime never defeated the demon like most believed, instead he sealed it into a new-born Naruto.

Then, on top of those things, she had awakened some kind of long-lost dōjutsu of her clan: the Futsunushi. In the past year she had already managed to go from dead-last in their graduating class to a top-tier genin like himself, and it made Sasuke angry.

"Good afternoon, Sasuke! I brought some apples for you this time, the seller said they were freshly picked this morning!" Sakura cheerfully chirped, sitting in her usually seat by Sasuke's bed and placing the brown bag of fruit on the table next to her. "Now where did I put that knife…" she asked herself as she looked around in the bag.

The Uzumaki that followed her in leaned against the bottom of his bed, lifting one leg up and crossing her foot under the knee of her other leg. "Do you think Kakashi-sensei will be discharged from the hospital soon? I really need to get him to assess my abilities," asked Naruto as she absentmindedly began fiddling with her glove.

"The nurse said Sasuke should be able to leave today so I imagine Kakashi-sensei will likely be able to as well, right Sasuke?" the Haruno looked up from the bag but frowned a few moments later when the boy didn't answer her. He was too busy glaring down at his hands. "Well, anyway, do you have a kunai or something, Naruto-chan?"

"Yeah, sure," the Uzumaki began rummaging around in her tool pouches, either ignoring or not noticing the way her teammates looked at her with a small amount of surprise on their faces. She hadn't snapped at Sakura or given her a mean quip like they had expected her to, which means the girl was probably in a better-than-usual mood. Much better. Did something happen earlier? "Ah shit, I thought I had one in here."

"Ah, that's okay, I can just go ask-" the Haruno was cut off by the sudden appearance of a kunai being held out in front of her. Strangely it had three prongs, the edges of which were a dull silver and the middle prong being the longest. The handle, also thicker than a typical kunai, had some kind of seals on it. "O-Oh… thank you," Sakura gently took the kunai from Naruto's hand, confusion evident on her face but when she saw that Naruto's eye had changed, she realised what had happened. "Nice kunai," she said as she started peeling the first of the apples.

The blonde shrugged. "I just thought about needing something small and sharp and there it was. No big deal," she replied, the nonchalant attitude only serving to anger the Uchiha more. How could she just be so indifferent about having such a powerful dōjutsu like that, and using it to peel apples of all things? If he saw someone using the Sharingan in such a childish way, he would be infuriated.

"Wow, that was much better than a normal knife," commented Sakura as she held it out for Naruto to take back, only to make a small 'eep' sound when the weapon turned into a dull gold light and disappeared, all within a fraction of a second. The Uzumaki chuckled at Sakura's reaction before going back to fiddling with her gloves. The Haruno smiled for a moment upon hearing her teammate's laugh, realising that she missed the sound as the girl rarely genuinely laughs anymore.

Sakura picked up the plate of perfectly peeled apple slices and lifted it towards Sasuke. "Here you go, Sasuke. Try them, I'm sure they'll be delicious!" the Haruno grinned at her male teammate, hoping to get a positive reaction out of him, but instead he just redirected his glare to her. Before she could ask what was wrong, the boy lashed out, knocking the plate of fruit from her hands which was sent flying into the wall. The pink haired girl instinctively raised her arms to protect her face as pieces of shattered ceramic showered down.

Startled by the sudden change, Naruto shot up and whirled around to face her teammates. First, she looked Sakura up and down and once she was satisfied that the girl wasn't hurt, merely frightened, she confronted the Uchiha. "Hey, what the fuck was that for?! What's your problem?!"

"Oi, Naruto," replied dark haired boy, a dark glint in his eyes. "Fight me, right now."

"What? Hell no, you've only just been healed by Tsunade. Don't get me wrong, I do want to test myself against you eventually, but it wouldn't be fair if we did it now."

"I'm perfectly fine and raring to go, so fight me. Unless of course you were bluffing and are actually too scared to go up against me," Sasuke threw the sheet off and swung his legs over the side of the bed, forcing Sakura to move as he stood up to stare down the Uzumaki. Feeling a familiar rage build up inside her, the blonde clenched her fists and matched his stare. Smirking at the obvious change of mind, the Uchiha gestured for her to follow him with a nod of his head, walking past both of the kunoichi and exiting the room, Naruto following close behind.

Sakura watched the two leave, an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach that she just couldn't ignore. After taking a minute to clean up the sharp pieces on the floor so no unsuspecting person would accidentally hurt them self, she rushed out the door to go after her teammates, deducing that since they turned left instead of right, towards the front exit, they must be on the roof.

Taking the stairs two steps at a time, Sakura reached the roof within a minute of leaving Sasuke's room, just in time to see them both stop at either side of the square roof and face each other.

"Let's make this a little more evenly matched, hm?" Naruto unclipped her tool pouches from her hips and tossed it, so it landed just beside the door to the roof. No shuriken, no wire, no Amaterasu scroll. 'Heh, the look on his face if I used that against him. He's lucky I don't actually want to kill him.'

"Don't kid yourself. I could tie my left arm behind my back and the match would still be in my favour. Deep down inside, you're still the dead-last loser from the academy. You've never been able to beat me, and you never will," replied Sasuke with a smug grin on his face, his Sharingan shining bright.

"That's where you're wrong, bastard. I am so much more than what you think I am, than what anyone thinks I am."

"Hn. Prove it, dobe," [1] a second later and the two genin shot towards each other, each aiming for a punch towards the other's head. Of course, both punches were caught, but they expected that. The Uchiha spun out of the hold and made a kick to Naruto's stomach but the girl caught him by the ankle, gripping him there tightly with one hand while the other reached up and gripped his knee, preventing him from bending it into another kick. Naruto, not needing to use any seals to make her Kage Bunshin, summoned two clones and had them both attempt to attack Sasuke: one tried to drive a fist into his stomach and one tried to threw an elbow to his face, but with his Sharingan, the boy was faster. Throwing his arms out, Sasuke caught the attacks and pushed the clones away before twisting his body so he faced the ground and used his free leg to slam his heel into Naruto's chin, causing her to let him go and step back. Using his hands, the Uchiha sprung into a flip and landed back on his feet a few metres from Naruto and her clones.

"Naruto! Sasuke! Stop it!" yelled Sakura from the door. Sparring was one thing, but that should always be in a controlled environment with someone like their sensei to supervise, not on top of hospital without a jōnin, or even a chūnin in sight. Ignoring their teammate, Sasuke and Naruto leapt towards each other again. Before the two met in combat once more, the latter summoned more clones, about a couple dozen of them, all of which surrounded the Uchiha. Naruto had quickly realised that with Sasuke's exceptional skill in taijutsu, along with his Sharingan as an added boost, there was no way she would be able to beat him in a purely hand-to-hand brawl herself, but maybe having the numbers on her side would help.

The clones all ran in, hoping an all-out assault would win the fight, but similar to her fight with Neji, most of the attacks were either dodged or countered. Sometimes Sasuke would even use her clones against her by tossing one into another or redirecting their attacks into each other. The Uchiha, however, was now starting to sweat and that meant he was going to start slowing down. Naruto smirked, realising that the amount of chakra she had available to continuously replace her damaged her clones was greater than Sasuke's stamina. It was only a matter of time until-

Sasuke grunted as a clone slid underneath him, taking advantage of him being distracted, and kicked him in the torso. After the first clone kicked him, another jumped off of the first and kicked him again before a third followed up until he was higher into the air. The original then used two of her clones to launch herself up and above Sasuke, the boy turning to follow her movements. Sasuke's eyes widened when he recognised the expression on Naruto's face.

'Shit, she's going to use a jutsu!' he thought in panic. Twisting his entire body around to face her, he quickly brought his hands together to follow her movements and for a second, wondered what Kakashi would say if he found out he was doing exactly what his sensei was famous for.

"Katon: Gōryūka no Jutsu!" [2] both genin shouted at the same time, two great fireballs in the shape of dragon heads shooting from their mouths at the same time. When the two jutsu collided, a massive explosion of fire erupted from the sides and almost engulfed the entire rooftop. Naruto and Sasuke both kept the streams of fire going, the two landing on the green fence around the perimeter of the roof, but on opposite sides. Thinking fast so she could get an edge on the clearly equally matched jutsu, Naruto summoned another clone to join her (the previous group having already been dispelled by the fire) and had it weave new hand seals.

"Fūton: Reppūshō!" [3] the clone cried out as it slammed its hands together before thrusting them out towards the flames.

Sasuke almost cursed when he felt the wind speed around the area begin to pick up, accurately guessing that his opponent was using a low-level wind jutsu to increase the power of her fire jutsu. It was basic ninjutsu rules: when the natures of the jutsu are the same, they cancel each other out unless one is of a higher power, and since wind is a natural boost to fire, Naruto has just drastically increased her own fireball's power. Under different circumstances, the Uchiha would have laughed. The two should clearly be excellent at complementing each other, each covering the other's weaknesses and boosting their strengths, but are instead pitting those strengths against one another.

Feeling Sasuke's jutsu being absorbed by her own, Naruto cancelled her stream of fire and dispelled her clone, waiting patiently for the fire clear away. For a few seconds she questioned whether she had perhaps gone too far, but then guessed that if Sasuke were to be greatly injured by their fight then at least all they had to do was bring him back downstairs and have a doctor treat him again.

The Uzumaki hissed through clenched teeth upon seeing the charred log of wood on the roof, deducing that the boy had swapped himself out using the Kawarimi jutsu before the fire could touch him. From her place on the fence, the jinchūriki scoured the rooftop to try and see where Sasuke had disappeared to, failing to notice that Sakura was also no longer present. Suddenly detecting movement from the corner of her eye, Naruto whipped around to face the rows of clothes lines with bed sheets draped over them laid out on the far side of the roof, most were untouched but the ones closer to the middle of the roof were currently on fire. Smirking at the simple hiding spot, the Uzumaki quickly summoned her katana and leapt towards the sheets, cutting the one that had moved in half and only realising her mistake when it was too late. It was a distraction.

The girl felt a stab of pain shoot across her skull as something hard collided with the back of it, sending her tumbling into another sheet and forcing her to drop her sword, a second later feeling that same thing slam itself into her stomach, pushing her into the air. Naruto barely had any time to breathe before Sasuke lowered his leg, his foot having been used to attack her, before readying a punch that sent her back against the fence.

The Uchiha followed up his attacks by pulling the sheet further over Naruto's body so it obscured her vision and then sending punch after punch into her, grunting with each strike. When the Uzumaki would start to slide down the fence, Sasuke would simply use his knee to force her back up. This continued on for about another ten or so seconds, the Uzumaki's head being knocked around and leaving her too dazed to mould chakra to save herself until one of Sasuke's punches clipped her ear instead of her face like he had intended. Suppose the bed sheet obscured his vision of her as much as it obscured her vision of him.

Taking the split-second opportunity to correct herself, the jinchūriki summoned two clones either side of Sasuke, much to his surprise, and latched on to both of his arms. Naruto threw the sheet off of her and with a cry, kicked the boy's chin as hard as she could, watching in satisfaction as he skidded across the roof on his back before coming to a stop a decent distance away.

Sasuke groaned as he slowly sat himself up, gently rubbing his chin that was surely to be bruised later. Bringing his attention back to his opponent, he nearly gasped in shock when he noticed the smaller cuts and bruises on her face already beginning to knit themselves together. Even the bigger injuries were looking smaller and smaller every time he blinked.

"Do you really… think something like that… is enough to beat me?" the Uzumaki asked, leaning on the fence for support, finding it harder to breathe than she did a minute ago. Spitting out a glob of blood, she grinned with red-stained teeth, her canines definitely sharper than a normal person's. "Pathetic."

Sasuke glared at her, feeling the same rage that had consumed him while sitting on the hospital bed and brooding about how strong the Uzumaki had grown to be so quickly, while his own strength seemed to be increasing at a snail's pace in comparison. It would only be a matter of time before she, the dead-last in their academy class, would overtake him, the top of the class and a member of the 'Uchiha elite'.

Sasuke picked himself up, cracking his neck and his knuckles. "If you're so sure about being able to withstand my attacks, then let's end this here and now," he declared, his hands flashing through familiar signs before holding one out towards the ground. The lightning chakra that started to build up in his hand was reflected in his crimson coloured eyes and tickled his face, but he refused to look anywhere other than directly at the blonde in front of him.

"Oh? So that's how you want this to go? Very well," the girl replied, pushing herself off the fence and holding out her own hand. Blue chakra rapidly swirled around in the shape of an orb on her palm, the light of which reflected off her blue eye.

Chidori and Rasengan.

With a battle cry, the two charged towards each other, deadly jutsu held out in front of them. The loud chirping of the lightning accompanied by the sound of the intense build-up of chakra easily drowned out the pleading calls of their third teammate who had just returned to the fight, having dashed back inside and shut the door to avoid the earlier vortex of flames.

Sakura, knowing that if she didn't do something her teammates could quite literally end up killing each other, quietly thanked their sensei for encouraging them to explore their chakra natures before going through hand seals of her own. "Doton: Doryūheki!" [4]

Much to Naruto and Sasuke's shock, a wall made of concrete suddenly erupted between them. It was approximately five feet wide and six feet tall, completely blocking each other from view. Although both genin tried to stop their attacks, it was too late as they were mere moments away from impact. Luckily for them both, someone else was able to step in.

Kakashi, along with the clone he summoned as soon as he realised what was going on, grabbed Naruto and Sasuke's wrists and redirected their attacks by throwing them both towards the metal water towers above the door. 'Kakashi-sensei?!' the two were both angry that the man had interrupted their fight and thankful for it at the same time. While they were desperate for a winner to be decided, they realised as soon as the wall came up between them that ending a fight with such lethal jutsu was a monumentally stupid idea. It was almost like when they were no longer completely focused on each other, due to the wall cutting eye-contact, they could start to think straight again.

Sakura winced at the sound of screeching metal but copied Kakashi when he jumped up to stand between the two water tanks. She watched as the Uchiha yanked his arm out of the hole in the tank, water rushing out before following his eyes to look at the damage to the other tank when she noticed his smile. Unlike Sasuke, Naruto's jutsu did not appear to have caused anywhere near the same amount of damage, the tank having only been left with a semi-large spiral dent and a pin-prick sized hole of which only a few droplets of water escaped through.

"What in Kami's name do you think you're doing?!" yelled Kakashi, grabbing both genin by the collars of their shirts and pulling them so they were forced to stand in front of him, side by side. "I was a mile away when I saw the flames, and thankfully I was or else you two could have killed each other. Sasuke," he addressed the boy, turning to glare at him first, "I did not teach you the Chidori for you to use it against comrades. What were you aiming to do? Pierce a hole through Naruto's chest? And you," he turned to the blonde, "I'm certain Jiraiya-sama didn't teach you the Rasengan for you to try and, what, rip Sasuke's arm off? I'm disappointed in the two of you. Extremely disappointed. So soon after the chūnin exams too, the whole point of which was to teach you about teamwork and valuing your comrades."

The Uzumaki and the Uchiha refused to look their sensei in the eye, instead choosing to look down at their feet in shame and embarrassment. Just as he was about to reprimand them further, he noticed Sakura standing funny. Whether she was aware of it or not, she was holding her right arm away from her body, not by a lot but just enough for a trained eye to see. "Sakura, what's wrong?"

The Haruno looked up at her sensei, her eyes widening slightly at the sudden attention. Even her teammates had looked up at her, also wondering what could be wrong with the girl. She wasn't involved in the fight and had stayed to the side, for the most part. "I-It's nothing, Kakashi-sensei. Don't worry, I'm fine," she answered, a fake cheerfulness to her voice.

"Sakura… turn around," the Hatake requested, an almost sad tone to the order. Knowing that she was going to be caught anyway, the pink haired girl sighed and slowly turned, revealing the mark now marring the back of bicep. She bit her bottom lip at the gasps from her teammates and sensei, wishing she could will herself into becoming invisible. "Sakura…" whispered Kakashi, his anger and disappointment now growing. "This… this is what happens when you let your jealously and hatred consume you," said Kakashi, pointing to the raw burn on Sakura's arm. No doubt it had been a result of the clashing fire jutsu earlier, Sakura having only barely managed to scrape by with a small wound compared to what could have happened if, Kami forbid, she had failed to save herself.

"Kakashi-sensei, really, it's nothing," the Haruno tried to persuade the jōnin that the burn wasn't a big deal, but he wasn't falling for it.

"Sakura, I appreciate your attempt to make them feel better, but this is something. When two comrades want to fight each other to test their strengths, they fight in a suitable place with safety precautions in place. This impromptu battle using those kinds of jutsu was out of order already, but to have hurt another comrade in the process is despicable. I'm sorry this happened to you Sakura, but may I not only commend you for your selflessness, but also your quick thinking? While the Chidori and Rasengan would have ripped through the wall anyway, hence my interference, it was a good idea and I'm glad to see you taking my advice to heart. As for the burn, I'm taking you to see Tsunade-sama right away. Normally I would have just taken you downstairs, but," the older Sharingan user turned to glare at Naruto and Sasuke again, "I need to report to her about what happened here today. Better she hears it from me rather than a witness who doesn't know the three of you like I do."

"But-" just as Sakura was about to protest, the man grabbed her and a second later, they disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The blonde cursed, quickly grabbing her abandoned tool pouch and flipping backwards over the fence, jumping down on to the street below, not giving Sasuke any time to potentially say or do something to infuriate her further. In her haste to leave the area, she never noticed true extent of the damage her Rasengan did to the back of the water tank, nor the four pairs of eyes watching her leave from a hidden place.

A/N: So first, I actually made Sakura more useful in this fight without actually having her interrupt the flow of battle. I wanted to show some more of her growth, but I also didn't want to take anything away from the Naruto vs Sasuke battle, you know?

Second, I'm sure you all recognise the kunai Naruto had. Yes, it is the exact same kind. No, she doesn't know the significance of it at all. No, it will unfortunately not be elaborated on until much later, but maybe there are some of you that already have an idea? If you're okay with some spoilers (focused around the Futsunushi) then feel free to shoot me a PM, I will happily confirm or deny any suspicions you have ;)

Third, as you could tell I changed the outcome of Konohamaru occupying the room with Hokage documents. Originally I was still going to have Naruto fail and Tsunade come in like an absolute badass bitch, but then decided that maybe now would be a good time for Naruto to show that she still has a soft, vulnerable side that comes out when she feels a great amount of empathy towards someone that is going through what she is/has.

As for something I thought of while writing Kakashi's dialogue: yes, I am aware that technically Jiraiya encouraged Naruto use the Rasengan against Sasuke's Chidori, but that was mainly a joke on his part in an attempt to get her to come with him to find Tsunade.

The last point about this chapter to make is about the fight itself. Neither Sasuke nor Naruto were TRULY going all out until the end when Sasuke got pissed off and provoked Naruto into the Chidori vs Rasengan. Rather, the point of this fight was to show that while Sasuke is still far more skilled than Naruto, Naruto still has that raw power that is far greater than Sasuke's own. There's also the damage he can inflict vs her endurance, shown through two examples: 1. the fact that overtime Sasuke got tired fighting all those clones one after the other non-stop while Naruto could just keep them coming, and 2. no matter how hard Sasuke beat her towards the end, the Kyūbi's chakra will heal her and that frustrated Sasuke to no end. Damage vs endurance, DPS vs tank/healer combo.

Lastly… we finally made it! 25 chapters and a little over 120k words later, we've finally caught up with the original version! Can I get a HELL YEAH?! This now marks the beginning of my original arc for Naruto. Expect to see a lot more of Team 10 and even Anko. I will also be 'updating' the original version so if you get a notification about that, don't worry about it, it's just something to say that the rewritten version has caught up!

NOTE: THIS IS PRETTY IMPORTANT
At the end of the week I will be DELETING the original version and changing the title of THIS version so it will no longer say 'Rewritten Version'. It's important that you guys know not to ignore future updates that have the original title :)

[1] Dobe – 'Idiot/Dead-last'
[2] Katon: Gōryūka no Jutsu – 'Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique'
[3] Fūton: Reppūshō – 'Wind Release: Gale Palm'
[4] Doton: Doryūheki – 'Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall' OR 'Earth Release: Mud Wall'