Disclaimer: I own nothing. If I did, Naruto and Sasuke would've spent the last few chapters making out instead of fighting :-)
Title: Couldn't Do It
Rating: PG
Pairings: SasuNaru, if you want to view it that way
Warnings: Spoilers and OOCness
Summary: Based on chapter 232. Sasuke looks down at Naruto from the canyon wall and reflects on why he spared him.
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I look down at the ravine floor, watching as Kakashi comes to find Naruto's body lying still on the ground. I know what's going through his head. He's wondering if Naruto is alive or not. Well, that much I know. Naruto is not dead. Why?
Because I couldn't do it.
Because I couldn't kill him.
Because he was right. Everything that we did together, everything that had happened to us; it all meant something. I mean, I knew it meant something before, but I didn't think it was enough to keep me from what I set out to do. I never imagined that all those little things that happened would have meant enough to stop me from killing him. It was all supposed to end once he became my closest friend. I would kill him, and then I would have the Mange Sharingan. Simple as that.
But life is never that easy on us. I knew after the incident in Wave Country that he was now my closest friend. And I thought I was ready to kill him. I thought it would be easy. In fact, the night we got back, I went to and spied outside his bedroom window so I could kill him while he was asleep.
But I didn't do it.
I COULDN'T do it.
It was too hard. I had been standing over him, kunai raised, ready to strike. And yet I held back. I stayed in that position of five minutes before I gave up and went back home. At first I thought it was just because killing someone in their sleep, especially the person that would help me obtain my Mange Sharingan, was a dishonorable act. I decided to wait until I could challenge him to a fair fight and would kill him then.
But I didn't do it. Everyday I meant to. And we sparred. We had fights. But they were all for training. I never once tried to kill him, or even thought about it. I always remembered before or after our matches, but never while it was going on.
I convinced myself that it was because I wanted to fight Naruto when he was stronger, because to kill someone that much weaker than you in a fight was really low. So I waited until he was stronger; strong enough to properly and fairly fight me.
And still I couldn't do it. Even in that fit of rage on the hospital roof, I still wouldn't have done it. It was too much. We had been through too much and the longer I waited, the harder things became.
I think that was part of the reason I went with Orochimaru's minions. Because I thought that if I got the power and served him, killing Naruto might be easier. I though because I was on the opposite side now and because he would hate me I was supposed to hate him, killing Naruto would seem insignificant.
I couldn't have been more wrong. Now killing him was harder than ever. Why? Because I felt my betrayal to him and the rest of Konoha weigh heavy on my mind and heart. It felt awful. And it was then that I knew I wouldn't be able to kill him. The second I saw that my Chidori attack had hit his lung instead of his heart, I knew. Why? Because I had been aiming for the heart. Even dodging wouldn't have worked, because with my Sharingan I would've been able to read through the movement and act correctly to counter it. But at the last second my hand swerved and hit his lung instead,
I don't really know why my hand went for the lung. Maybe it was because some part of my mind knew that Naruto would be OK if I hit the lung. And he was, wasn't he? Whatever he did to heal it worked very well, and I'm grateful for it.
But I still needed to kill my brother, and to obtain the Mange Sharingan. So I tried going to "Level 2", because I thought the power would cloud my mind enough so that I would be able to kill Naruto. And in those first few moments that I saw him lying on the ground, I though it had worked. But then I saw his chest rise and fall very slightly, in a slow, rhythmic pattern that told me he was simply unconscious. And I finally, fully realized and understood it. I couldn't kill him. No, it wasn't that I couldn't kill him. It was that I wouldn't kill him. He meant too much to me.
And so as I stand here and watch Kakashi inspect Naruto's body, I begin to think. I can't go back to Konoha. It would be too much for me. But I'm not going to Orochimaru either. I owe Naruto that much. I begin to walk away from the scene below me. As I walk my thoughts drift to Itachi.
I'm still going to kill him. But I'm going to prove to him I don't need the Mange Sharingan to do it. I don't know where Itachi found the evilness in his heart to kill his closest friend, but the same evil is not in my own heart. I will not stoop that low, just to achieve the power to kill him. Not again. I will not make the same mistake twice. I'm going to kill him in my own way.
I look back one more time and I see that Naruto is beginning to wake up. I know it's now the time to run, otherwise I'll never be able to leave. So I turn and take a leap into the trees, and I'm gone.
But even as I leap from branch to branch, I make a silent vow. I WILL see Naruto again. I'm going to make sure of it. And when we do meet again, we're going to sit down and have a long talk about what happened today.
Then again, knowing him, he'll probably challenge me to a fight and end up getting his ass kicked.
The fact that I finally know someone well enough to be able to make a good prediction of what may happen 10, 20 years from now makes a smile grave my face and a laugh escape my throat as I run.
OWARI