A/N: Okay, this fic starts in the Valley of the End, before any of the transformations and such, enjoy the one-shot.
"Chidori!"
"Rasengan!"
The words echoed through the forest as the trees respected the mood of the situation and quieted itself for the two boys.
The world stopped, it seemed, but as the light from the two techniques died down, a small gasp was heard.
That seemed to echo as well.
When the light was totally gone, the world restarted, the forest filled with activity again.
But- besides the gasp, of course- the boys remained silent.
One had been victorious, it was clear.
The dark haired one grinned at the other's defeat; he proudly brought his arm farther up, bringing the other boy with him-
-Because the dark haired boy's arm had pierced through the blonde's chest.
The gasp had come at the impact.
The blonde coughed harshly, not noticing the small stream or blood dripping from the corner of his mouth.
"See Naruto?" the dark haired boy broke the silence, "You can't beat me, you never could and you never will!" He was still grinning madly.
The blonde, Naruto as the older boy called him, lifted his eyes to meet the boy's, "I guess you're right, Sasuke."
Sasuke's eye's widened at Naruto's attitude; he wasn't supposed to agree with the one that just put a hole through his torso!
Naruto chuckled lightly, which ended up turning into a coughing fit. He weakly brought his only working arm up to his mouth, examining the blood once the fit had ended, "That doesn't look too good, does it?" he tried to joke.
Sasuke growled, covering his confusion, "Dobe, what are you talking about!" he yelled, and in one swift motion, he pulled his arm out of his best friend's chest.
He watched said friend fall to the ground, coughing up more blood and staining the ground.
"Maybe it's the whole fatal wound thing messing with my head, but I guess you've been right, you know?" Naruto commented, trying to make the effort to turn his head upwards to look at Sasuke.
"What?" Sasuke asked, eyes widening even more. This wasn't supposed to happen! He was just supposed to kill Naruto quick and easy and then leave for Orochimaru. He wasn't supposed to regret any of this!
Naruto gasped again, grasping his non-working shoulder, "No…" he whispered, "Don't…"
Sasuke dropped to the ground infront of Naruto, forgetting his hate for the time being, "What? What's wrong?" he asked.
Naruto tried to throw him a reassuring grin, "It's the Kyuubi…" this confused Sasuke even more, but before he could question what a demon fox had to do with anything, Naruto continued, "He's trying to heal my chest and shoulder…"
Sasuke looked down to Naruto's torso, where the edges of the wound gave off steam.
"I'll try to hold him off though…" Naruto finished before launching into another fit.
"If he's trying to heal you, let him!" Sasuke all but screamed. It was strange to see the Uchiha wanting to save the person he had just mortally wounded.
Naruto's eyes became serious as he stared directly at his best friend, "For a genius, you sure are pretty stupid…" he commented weakly, "Sasuke- we're best friends, you're one of my precious people…"
As Naruto's voice faded into another attack, Sasuke grabbed his shoulders, "Naruto!" he yelled while thinking, 'Stop it! You're scaring me!'
Naruto wiped his mouth with his sleeve before continuing his exclaimation, "Teme! I care about you! And if the only way you'll get stronger is by killing me…" he hesitated on the last bit, Sasuke blinked. He had never told Naruto about how to get the Mangekyou Sharingan, "…then I'm happy to aid you in being the strongest you can…"
"You Dobe! You don't have to-" Sasuke screamed before he was cut off.
"Plus, shinobi don't have very long life expectancies, right? Well we all have to go eventually… so I'm glad that I died in a fight with you instead of on some random mission…" Naruto growled again, "Damn fox… stop it!"
Naruto swayed, then used his working arm to balance himself, "I think the blood loss is getting to me…" he mumbled before falling to his side.
"Naruto!" Sasuke yelled, crawling over to his friend, "Stop it you baka! I'm not worth it!" He yelled to the blonde, absently noting that there were tears threatening to fall from his eyes.
Naruto grinned weakly, "Could you tell Sakura 'sorry' that I couldn't fulfill her promise. After this you're probably never going to step foot into Konoha again, but, you know, if you see her when she's on a mission or somethin?"
Sasuke turned Naruto over so that he was o his back, "You can tell her it yourself if you just-"
The blonde chuckled, "I have to say, secretly I kind of liked you better then Sakura, she has such a wide forehead! Have you noticed?"
"Dobe, you're starting to lose it, so please-"
Naruto blinked and turned his now-glazed eyes in the general direction of the forest, "Kakashi's coming, just a head's up…" he stated softly before he passed out altogether.
"Naruto! Wake up you idiot!" he screamed.
"Sasuke!" he heard from behind him. He looked over his shoulder at his former sensei, "Let go of Naruto and come peacefully back to the village! I'll use force to bring you back if I have to."
Sasuke chuckled bitterly, standing up. "No need…" he commented, no emotion left in his voice. He picked up the unconscious blonde bridal style, "If I don't come back, how would I be able to know if this dobe ever woke up again?" Kakashi nodded and wothout another word, both made their way back to the village.
A/N: Wow that was angsty. Now you all use your imaginations to choose whether Naruto dies or not. I'm not going to say yes to either. Ah- and sorry to all the people who are waiting for an update to my other story, my computer died and now I'm left with a Window's 98… you can't get much crappier then that. Also, this one shot is to hold you over or whatever until my comp gets fixed