Short (somewhat) filler chapter of Naruto and Sasuke. Just to update you guys with what's happening with them before I concentrate back on Gaara and Neji. Thought I'd give you guys a bit more before I left.

Bitenshi – Yeah, Neji is starting to become wrapped around Gaara's little finger. But I'd be lying if I didn't say it wasn't the same for Gaara. And I love SasuNeji as well.

Yaoilover S – Hehe…I wanted more yaoi in the last GaaraNeji chapter but I had to close it off somehow since it was getting rather long.

Ruby-sama aura-chan the neko-jin's yami - I think he's sexy. :D

Sinn – Thanks. I'm so glad you liked it. Wish there was more yaoi though…

Chapter 25: Ambush

"This was almost too easy," murmured Naruto as he and Sasuke watched the two sand-nin walk into the ruins of some village.

Sasuke nodded. "I know, but maybe our luck has finally changed. Stay on your guard though." Sasuke slid out his unbent kunai and slinked cautiously into the town. It looked pretty much deserted except for random flashes of faces in the dark gaping windows.

"I don't like this place," remarked Naruto, looking warily around.

Sasuke said nothing. They had lost sight of Temari and Kankuro, but the nin was pretty sure that this was the destination they wanted to be in. This was where they would find Neji.

"Sasuke!" Naruto pushed the boy quickly out of the way of some shuriken that thudded into the earth where he had been standing.

The Uchiha squinted his eyes to the building above. A man was standing on top of the roof, smirking down at them. "Welcome leaf-ninjas. I was so sure that your village would send at least slightly older and more experienced rescuers to recapture the Hyuuga."

Sasuke's heart skipped a beat. "What have you done with Neji!"

The man laughed. "My name is Kanaroe, runt. And you may have the Hyuuga back when I am finished with him."

"Where is he!" Sasuke felt the rage building in his chest, and he switched his sharigan on. Neji was here, and he was going to get him back.

Kanaroe looked with interest at the Uchiha's eyes. "If things don't work out with the Hyuuga, than your eyes could serve as an adequate replacement. I'll have to be extra careful not to damage them when I kill you."

"If you think I go down easily, then you're about to be proven wrong," snarled Sasuke, bracing himself.

"They're all around us," Naruto muttered out of the corner of his mouth to Sasuke. Sure enough, the dark-haired boy could see glimpses of other people in and on the buildings surrounding them. They hadn't gotten out as scott-free as Sasuke had hoped; obviously their arrival had been expected.

Naruto gave Sasuke a cocky smirk. "Piece of cake, eh?"

Sasuke smiled back. "Yeah." The odds were horribly against them, but Sasuke knew that they would both give it their all. They had come this far, and there was no turning back.

Kanaroe laughed and leapt down from the roof. "I'm disappointed I didn't have the Hyuuga's eye to test out for this fight, but I can try it out later. This shouldn't take long at all."

Sasuke took a quick visual sweep of his surroundings. There were at least fifteen others scattered around them, waiting to strike, plus this strange man that Sasuke knew nothing about. He and Naruto would not be able to hold out long using simply brute force. One glance at Naruto, and the blonde smirked back, understanding.

Suddenly, many copies of Naruto appeared, all grinning and bracing themselves for the fight.

Kanaroe laughed. "How childish. Come on now. Let's see how well the leaf village trains its ninjas."

As if a starting gun had been fired, instantly there was a sudden wave of action. Half of Naruto's copies sprang to meet the surrounding ambushers while the rest went after Kanaroe. Sasuke mingled with them, trying to get as close to the head nin as he could.

Kanaroe's eyes widened in surprise as he physically fought with the copies. "So you can create solid doppelgangers, can you? Quite impressive; however, not good enough." He punched one of the Naruto's away, and in the same movement kicked another back.

Sasuke could see that Kanaroe was incredibly quick. For every attack he had a counter, even before it seemed the attack had even started to be used. He dodged the blows flawlessly, and was still able to get in some of his own. Still, there was something that wasn't quite right. It took Sasuke a few moments to realize. Though his movements were quick to counter, when a doppelganger approached Kanaroe from the right, the nin wasn't as fast to block the attack.

Getting closer only confirmed it for Sasuke. 'He's blind in his right eye…' This Sasuke could use to his advantage. Using Naruto's copies as his distraction, he snuck up on the nin's blind side before striking.

Kanaroe whirled around in surprise to look down at the small wound Sasuke's kunai had made in his side. Smacking another Naruto away, he turned to face the offending nin.

"Well aren't you clever?"

Sasuke had to dodge the blade that suddenly plunged out at him from within Kanaroe's robes. He was almost not fast enough, and it caught on the end of his shirt, ripping it. Naruto's replicas did a good job of fighting Kanaroe's men and being enough of a distraction to keep the head nin from getting a good blow in with his knife at Sasuke.

One of the Narutos moved in behind Kanaroe, and with a flashed grin, Sasuke knew this was the real one. It was going to take a lot of teamwork to take Kanaroe down, from what Sasuke had seen so far. At least they had the advantage with his blind-spot. Sasuke wasn't even sure what the man was capable of just yet. Somehow he didn't think Kanaroe had unleashed all his big guns this soon. He was fast and accurate, but it wasn't anything that couldn't be dealt with through strategy and numbers.

Kanaroe glanced behind him at the blonde fox-child, then back at Sasuke. He still seemed unconcerned with the situation. "So which of you wants to try me first?" he beckoned with a grin.

The two answered by leaping at Kanaroe at the same time. While Naruto attacked his back from behind, Sasuke once again slipped into Kanaroe's blind area to strike another blow. To his dismay, Kanaroe's knife intercepted his kunai.

"Don't think you can pull the same trick on me twice, boy," Kanaroe stated, flinging Saske's kunai away with a flick of his wrist.

Naruto leapt between them, blocking the knife from wounding Sasuke, while the Uchiha retrieved his kunai. Just as Sasuke was standing up to make another run at Kanaroe, he was hit fully by Naruto's body, which had been thrown into him. They both went flying and crashed into the wall of a building.

Kanaroe laughed. "Good effort boys, but this is where it all ends."

Sasuke winced as Naruto got off him. The doppelgangers were not doing so well anymore due to the arrival of two familiar nin.

Temari and Kankuro were taking each down, one by one, and heading towards where Kanaroe had trapped the leaf-nin. It looked like it was going to be three against two, and if that wasn't unfair enough, all three seemed to be at a higher skill level than Sasuke and Naruto had yet achieved.

This was it. There was nothing left to loose, besides their lives. And neither Sasuke nor Naruto was going to give that up easily. Sasuke was going to kick all their asses for Neji and Naruto's sakes.

Temari and Kanakuro moved to stand behind Kanaroe, and the doppelgangers flickered out of existence. Sasuke could see the raw determination gleaming in Naruto's eyes as he crouched down, preparing to spring. Sasuke would go after Kanaroe and the blonde would cover his back. Gathering his breath, Sasuke tensed and lunged at his foe. The fight for Neji had begun.

It's a really short chapter compared to the last one, but I couldn't have too much happen too soon, and needed to get back to Gaara and Neji. Besides, I suck at writing fight scenes, and this was difficult for me to write. I didn't even start the major fight yet… 'groans' Only a few more chapters left in this story. Yay! But there is definitely going to be a sequel for this, because there will be a lot of things left hanging at the end of the fic, so the sequel will serve as just an extension of the story.