Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
Autumn Leaves
Chapter 1: Nostalgic Thoughts
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"Took you long enough, dobe."
"Ahahaha…you just never change, bastard."
Sasuke and Naruto greeted each other with a smirk as they entered the Ichiraku. They met often at work, because they were both ANBU, and unfortunately for Sasuke, he was sometimes stuck on a mission with Naruto. Otherwise, they never talked much.
"One miso ramen."
"One pork ramen, please."
Naruto stared at Sasuke. His physical appearances didn't change much, just his height. His bangs might have grown a little longer, but that was about it.
"What, dobe." Sasuke said with irritation.
"You'll never change…" Naruto said with a sigh. "Still thinking of her again?"
"…"
Naruto took this as a yes and slowly sipped on his water. Naruto knew that all Sasuke now thought about was Sakura, as if she was an obsession. 'I hope it didn't get that serious…' Naruto snapped out of his trance when their food arrived.
This was the routine. Sasuke asked to meet Naruto, they met, ordered their food, and then talked. They always ate silently.
"So…what did you want to talk about?"
"…"
"Hey, you're the one who wanted to talk you know…"
"It's about Sakura."
Naruto frowned. He didn't like talking about his missing teammate, his missing friend. He loved her, yes, his crush on her had turned into love. But to his despair, she still loved that bastard even before she had disappeared. Sure she loved Naruto, but he didn't want to be loved that way…like a brother. He wanted her to love him like how he loves her…
"What about her?"
He watched Sasuke reached into the neck of his ANBU uniform to take out his locket. He flipped it open gently and stared deeply into the picture.
"I think I'm going to look for her."
Flashback
Two Years Ago…
"YOU!"
"Hmph." A sixteen- year old Sasuke stood in front of Naruto.
"How could you do this to me and Sakura…" Naruto said as he gritted his teeth and clenched his fists together. "We were your teammates…your friends…"
"You're still the dobe that I know." Sasuke ignored the nonsense and tried to provoke Naruto into fighting him. He had to find out who is stronger; they have been rivals for far too long.
"We suffered so much because of you…" Naruto stopped for a minute, and unclenched his fist when blood started coming out. "Especially…
"…especially Sakura-chan!"
Sasuke flinched.
Naruto ran toward Sasuke with a fist. Sasuke easily blocked it, after all, no smart ninja tries to attack the enemy from the front. Sasuke returned with a roundhouse kick to Naruto's head, which caused Naruto to tumble over.
"Hmph."
Naruto slowly stood back up. "Y-You…You were never our friend!…Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto and his ten clones ran towards Sasuke with lightning speed.
"Huh?"
Sasuke was surprised at the speed in which they were coming.
"Sharingan!"
Sasuke recieved a punch in the chest and a kick in the ribs. Amidst all of the clones, Sasuke spotted the real one at five o'clock. Sasuke jumped up and did hand seals. "Katon Housenka no jutsu!"
The Naruto clones disappeared and only one was left…the real one.
"Stop it, dobe…show me your real strength."
"You're the one who's playing around!" Naruto yelled.
"I'll show you…" Sasuke's left hand started trickling with electricity sparks. He was indeed not playing around. The technique Chidori, or the thousand cranes, was made by Hatake Kakashi…
To kill.
'If I can't beat this drop-out, then there's no way I could kill Itachi.'
"Hmph, so what?" Naruto started forming a yellow light. He tapped into the Fox's immense amount of chakra. Yes, Naruto was getting ready to use the Resengan.
"Arghh!!" The two boys screamed as they ran towards each other, both using their strongest attacks.
A giant smoke was formed where the two had clashed. The sound of the explosion resounded through the whole forest. Slowly and slowly, the smoke began to disperse. Both boys, clutching their arms, began to slowly rise.
"Hmph, g-guess you trained—"
"Sasuke-sama!"
"Huh?" Sasuke and Naruto turned to see about ten sound-nins coming towards him.
"Sasuke-sama! We heard the explosion and were coming to your aid. Don't worry—"
"You fools! I don't need you damn help!" Sasuke yelled in fury.
"We must, sir. Orochimaru-sama needs you to be in good condition when we destroy Konoha…" The head sound-nin replied.
"What?!?" Sasuke was confused. Orochimaru hadn't said anything about destroying Konoha. Sasuke had been sent on a mission to obtain a forbidden scroll. He had seen the dobe on the way and decided to challenge him. 'So that's why…' He had thought that the dobe was out of his mind and was talking nothing but nonsense. But everything fell into pieces now. Naruto thinks…that he's aiding Orochimaru in destroying his own home.
The sound-nin, noticing the unnecessary information given, suddenly froze. 'Dammit…Orochimaru-sama was going to activate the seal on this brat so that he would become a killing machine…he'll punish me for sure…' Angry at his mistake, he began shouting at his men.
"Kill the fox-demon you fools!!"
All of a sudden, the ten sound-nins ran towards Naruto in an all out melee. They began powering up their amplifiers to hit Naruto with a sound blast.
"Nooo!" Naruto heard Sasuke shout from somewhere, but there was nothing he could do to defend again ten ninjas, when suddenly…
A figure appeared in front of Naruto, and quickly did some hand seals. A large barrier covered Naruto and this mysterious person. He/she was wearing an all black ninja suit, and his/her face was covered completely except for a bit of the eyes, which were impossible to see, only if you stood an inch away from his/her face. The person carried two katanas, one on the back and one on the side of the hip, held by the rope that wrapped around the waist with the sheath of the sword. The chakra was somehow familiar to Naruto, and Naruto thought that it was Kakashi-sensei. But the figure was way too short for it to be him. He/she even seemed shorter than him. Sasuke seemed suspicious at this person, as he was staring intently at him/her.
Naruto didn't have much time to think when the sound nins started throwing a large amount of kunais, shuriken, and senbon. Naruto heard the figure mutter a "run."
Naruto swiftly landed on top of a branch, and was surprised when he found Sasuke right next to him.
"I-I didn't know…" Sasuke whispered.
"Hmph." Naruto somehow had a gut feeling that Sasuke wouldn't have agreed to do anything that would harm them. "You're still a bastard."
Sasuke smirked and looked back suspiciously at the cloaked figure. 'Who the hell is he?'
The cloaked figure just stood there, while the sound-nins circled around him/her.
"Kyoshiro! Arise!" The mysterious figure yelled in a muffled voice, it was still difficult to tell whether he was a man or a woman. He/she held her hand straight out, grabbing air. All of a sudden, the sword in the sheath that was next to his/her hip, started moving. It turned transparent and then reappeared in her outstretched hand. The sword glowed red.
The sound-nins were surprised, but nonetheless attacked.
Time stopped, the world froze, and everything turned quiet. The figure moved at a monstrous speed. Sasuke's eyes widened simutaneously with Naruto's.
'How could this be…'
In a matter of seconds, the sound-nins lay dead on the forest grounds, all ten of them. The dead corpses lay around the figure, right where they had stood before they had begun their attack. The figure meanwhile just stood there, motionless.
Sasuke, too busy concentrating on the battle, was unaware that the cursed seal was spreading through his body. Black marks started forming from where his seal was and spread quickly. 'There is no escape, Sasuke-kun…' Sasuke froze when he heard Orochimaru's sly voice in his head. 'Go…kill them!'
"Arghh!!" Naruto turned to Sasuke, he was clutching his shoulder in desperation. Then he looked at his hand.
"What the hell is going on?!?" Naruto yelled.
Sasuke's fist was once again cackling with electricity.
"Arghh!!"
Sasuke's eyes were replaced with the Sharingan, but it held something else too. It wasn't the real Sasuke for sure.
Surprisingly, in Sasuke's mind, it seemed the cloaked figure was more of a threat than Naruto. Sasuke, avoiding the person next to him, ran towards the mysterious person who had saved them.
"Die!"
"Yamero! Sasuke!"
The figure's eyes widened with shock, and did quick seals to form a genjutsu barrier. Unfortunately, the barrier was formed so sudden, that fifty percent of the Chidori had gone through. Sasuke's hand plunged through the barrier and onto his/her chest.
Naruto came running towards them, but froze when the cloak of the mysterious figure slowly fell off her head.
"S-Sakura-chan…"