Training ground five was slightly south of the main village and it included a swiftly flowing river, a set of wooden posts that spun when struck, and an area that had soft sand in an indentation instead of the usual hardpacked earth. These things together made it an ideal training ground for brawling or physical training and thought the kids would not know it. The area was also an excellent place to train Earth and Water-based Ninjutsu. The kids barreled into the training ground before gathering together in the sandy area.

" So, who wants to spar, and who wants to work on the reaction training?" Naruto said as he took off his jacket and began stretching out. The run had done him a lot of good for warming up, but it was never enough for him. His jacket landed against a tree nearby falling to the ground with a small thump.

" I need the reaction training actually, I'm getting really good at dodging but I need to be better." Ino's said as she stuck her hands on her hips and let out a sigh. She gave Naruto a mock punch on the arm before leaping away to the spinning posts with their wooden protrusions. She immediately launched herself at them striking hard and fast, as soon as she did the post spun around launching a protrusion at her left side which she dodged by ducking. This continued as the post begun spinning rapidly back and forth left and right Ino dodged, looking more and more like a dance than any kind of real combat.

Naruto had his eye on her as Sasuke began speaking about what the Therapist he had been seeing said. Naruto paid attention as the good friend he was, but he couldn't really tear his eye away from Ino's moving form. She would be really hard to hit in the future.

" Anyway the doctor thinks that the Genjutsu he put me under would have normally left my psyche in a really bad place, but because mom is still around she helped me a lot. I just still don't understand why he would do something. He loved the village, you know that Naruto... Right?" Sasuke said as he kept looking up into the sky his eyes unfocused as he saw something very far away.

" Of course he loved the village, he was one of the greatest ninja we had. I don't really understand it either, but I do know that there has to be more going on." Naruto said finally tearing his eyes away from Ino's combat training. He made eye contact with Sasuke and gave him his trademark grin before reaching out his knuckles, which Sasuke tapped lightly with his own before stepping back taking his fighting stance.

" Don't hold back on me Sasuke if were going to hunt down your brother we both need to be strong. So give it your all and I'll do the same!" Naruto said with such confidence that something deep in Sasuke knew he meant it one hundred percent. Sasuke nodded at him with one fist raised in front of him and the other held at his waist. This was the classic Interceptor Fist the trademark fighting style of the Uchiha.

Naruto saw the nod and nodded back at him his smile splitting his face before taking up the modified fighting style Kakashi-Nii had taught him. It was the precursor to his father's Flying Raijin, Uplifting Kaze(1) fighting style involved lots of very fast movement and misdirection, and a large number of wind and lighting techniques. The final form of the fighting style, of course, involved his father's infamous Flying Raijin Technique.

In less than a blink of an eye, the two met in the middle of the sandpit their opposite arms pushing against each other. Naruto took the initiative by lashing out a low kick while simultaneously letting off the pressure on his arms. This resulted in Sasuke flying over the top of Naruto off balance and facing the wrong direction!

Sasuke grunted as he pushed his forward momentum into a front flip correcting his positioning and launching a sweep at Naruto on the ground. Before waiting to see how Naruto would react he was already moving into an overhead axe-kick.

Naruto took the blow to his side with a grunt allowing himself to be launched slightly backward out of the reach of the devastating axe-kick that landed kicking up a large amount of sand. He flipped himself upwards in a handstand launching himself feet first at Sasuke. Naruto winced when he felt his feet connect and the resounding crack of Sasuke's jaw as he failed to dodge the kick. Naruto's victory was shortlived however as he felt his legs get grabbed, and the proceeding meeting his face had with the ground was not all that great for him.

Sasuke growled as he spit blood on the ground and launched a particularly nasty knife hand up under Naruto's ribs, from his superior position of having Naruto in his grip. Naruto let out a hacking cough as he felt his breath leave him. He was in a bad position here! In response, Naruto launches a surprisingly hard punch at Sasuke's knee forcing it to fold and in the resulting tumble, he managed to roll out and gasp drawing in the sweet air. He crouched low keeping a wary eye on Sasuke who had yet to recover. Time to steal one of his dad's tricks then. While Sasuke was still recovering Naruto grabbed a rock from the edge of the arena he had rolled toward.

While Naruto was busy setting up Sasuke had also moved to the other side of the arena limping slightly. He grit his teeth as he looked back at Naruto. That kick to the head had jarred his head and his vision was swimming slightly, waving back and forth as his sense of balance and injured knee also made the world seem off-balance. He glared when he saw Naruto beginning to charge him. One final clash then. He began moving much slower than before keeping his eyes open trying to notice everything before him when he saw it. The way Naruto's hand was clutched in an odd way tipped him off, he prepared to lurch to the side to dodge whatever was coming.

Naruto saw Sasuke tense the tell-tale sign that he had been noticed, good that was exactly what he wanted. He launched his hand tossing the rock right at Sasuke's face as hard as he could given the position he was in. Sasuke smirked as he leaned left dodging just as he had planned

" NOT GOOD ENOUGH NARUTO!" The adrenaline from the fight was coursing through him raising his voice to a manic volume, he would win this. It was at that exact moment he saw something that struck fear into him, that left him with a chill down his spine. It was the smirk on Naruto's face as he turned his body.

" Right where I want you!" Naruto stated as he lept over Sasuke's lowered form slamming his fist into the middle of Sasuke's back with the full force of his body and previous speed. " Suzume ni noru sandā!"(2) The blow slammed Sasuke into the ground with incredible force. Naruto hit the ground sliding through the sand on his shoulder. As soon as he was able he crawled over to Sasuke and flipped him over.

" You okay?" he grunted own ribs felt bruised

Sasuke let out a terrible sounding cough where Naruto was almost certain he heard Sasuke's ribs shift around. " Just fine, god that fucking hurt you jerk," he said finally after he finished coughing.

Naruto grinned at him before wincing, his own lungs fucking hurt like hell so he understood what Sasuke was complaining about. He let himself collapse on the ground next to Sasuke as he let out a content sigh. Slowly he let the sounds of the rushing water, the cool breeze, and the bright sun shining down on him.

"Naruto! Sasuke!, you lazy bums. I knew that I'd find you snoozing down here."(3) Naruto cracked one eye open to see Ino standing over the two of them her hands on her hips leaning forward giving both of them an evil look.

" I saw that move you used Naruto, I figured after that you two would be wrestling around down here, but instead I find you two napping. Come on, let's get you two up and to the hospital." She gave them each a hand and helped pull them up where they both swayed dramatically for a few moments before Ino stepped between them offering a shoulder each to lean on. She soon started leading them towards the hospital grumbling along the way good-naturedly as the boys cracked jokes and poked fun at each other and her.

Kakashi followed them at a sedated pace over the rooftops, on more than one occasion he stopped an older ninja from assisting them, claiming "If they want to train that hard, they need to learn the consequence of walking back to the hospital." He said leaving them with a little grin easily seeable through his mask. The ninja deferred to his advice and before long the exhausted trio limped their way into the hospital Kakashi entering behind them just a few moments later.

Author Notes:

1:Flying Thunder God, Uplighting Breeze

2:Sparrow Riding Thunder(the move Minato uses on Obito in his fight before his death, Naruto's currently does not have a Rasengan or the ability to teleport but its still a fairly devastating move

3:If someone can tell me what this is from I will be very happy.