Chapter 11: Of Allies and Enemies, The Sound finale.

Of Allies and Enemies... who is really who ?

"Yeah your right, it is the end..." Naruto said.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Konohamaru lay stretched out on the back seat with one leg hanging off. Brown eyes drifted to the sky, watching the clouds of a blue sky begin to darken into shades of orange from an approaching sun set. He had to admit, they'd only been gone for a few hours and he was already feeling better.

Relaxed, and with pent up anger subsiding, Konohamaru was able to let himself start to drift off to sleep. "Sasuke?" He called out sleepily with his eyes falling closed.

"Huh?" Sasuke easily could look back because the road was empty, there was no way he'd hit anything.

"Where are we going?"

Sasuke looked over at Naruto, he'd fallen asleep a few minutes ago…he never looked so clam and peaceful. "No where in particular, but if you really want to know here's a map." Sasuke reached down in-between his seat for a folded up map, tossing it back to Konohamaru.

The boy let it land on his chest with no attempt to catch it "Doesn't matter I guess." he left the map there, finally drifting off to sleep.

Sasuke looked back at him and smiled, a small one that was barely visible but there none the less. Turning back he watched the road roll past them, it didn't really mater where they were going, as long as they stopped for something to eat. He was pretty sure that when Naruto woke up he'd be hungry, the boy was an endless pit.

At lest he was happy.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Naruto pushed any other thoughts away as he ran towards Sasuke, but he started to notice everything else in an exaggerated manner reminiscing to a person who was reviewing their life when they were seconds away from death. Time seemed to slow in the same manner, it was as if Naruto's mind had started processing his sense's much faster then they could transfer what was around him. He now knew how people could go over years in a matter of seconds before they met their end.

The hard rain jabbed him with countless drops, each one warm and soothing. The wind from the slowly rotating blades of the duel propeller helicopter on the other side of the roof scattered the rain in a swirl of air currents, making it appear more violent then it actually was, Naruto could even see the white streaks of the air currents They swirled around like a whirlpool that scattered the winds downward and outward at the same time.

His eyes, the only thing that was able to keep up with his head's pace, looked towards Sasuke. Those black eyes that hid a deep red with in them almost as if holding a black veil over his Sharingan blood line. The wet, pale skin that was held perfectly over tensed muscles, the way the black button-up shirt lay over firmly his torso and hung perfectly over his black pants. And the way the strands of raven hair hung loosely over his concentrated face. 'God he is cute...why did he have to do this to me...'

Everything returned to normal speed and Naruto found himself running head on at Sasuke again. Abandoning all thought for good and with complete focus he punched the other boy across his cheek and forcing him to stumble to the side, Sasuke reached over and grabbed Naruto's arm. With his natural speed he pulled Naruto in while he thrust his elbow in to his chest, and then pulled Naruto's arm behind his neck and tossed him over his shoulder. Naruto hit the ground with a loud and wet thump, immediately squinting from the water falling into his eyes, he ignored it and drove his foot upwards into Sasuke's chest hard enough to knock him backwards.

Naruto rolled on to his side and up to his knees, sweeping his foot across the ground and kicking Sasuke off of his feet. Naruto immediately sprang on top of him, grabbing him by his collar and throwing a furry of punches at him. He struck repeatedly and repeatedly, and somehow through all of that Naruto started to zone out...

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Inside the small building his eyes were greeted by the sight of endless waves of junk food the on shelves. "Well…I'm kind of hungry." Naruto said to himself, looking down at his stomach. With a wide smile he walked through the rows of shelves, mentally dividing how much money he'd need to fill up the tank. It left a lot of room for snacks.

Naruto grabbed a few bags of chips, moving down the row picking out some assorted candy. Including but not limited to Skittles, Starburst and M&Ms... until he reached the one item that made him nearly dropped it all when he saw the Instant Ramen, there was a string on top, it was designed so that all someone had to do was it and the Ramen became hot and ready to eat in a few minutes.

His smile growing wider, Naruto grabbed about 10 or however many he could hold at once then dumped it all on the counter in front of Casher. A young woman with long brown hair down to her shoulders and a blue apron looked down at him in awe, "Now what is a cute little kid like you doing in some place like this so late?" She asked in a friendly voice.

Naruto never thought he'd hear something like that from anyone, it would have never happened in Konoha. This whole trip was almost worth that small statement. Naruto rubbed the back of his head "Taking a Roadtrip."

"Is that why your buying all of this junk?" She said with a humorous tone as she rang up the items. "If your not careful you'll rot your teeth out."

Naruto couldn't help but think of how she reminded him of Iruka and how he always looked after him in this manner. "I'm not going to eat all of it by my self…well maybe the ramen."

"I'd keep the ramen to my self too…but it's good to hear your not out here alone, I wouldn't want something to happen to someone as adorable as you." The woman smiled and ruffled Naruto's hair lightly.

"Huh? Really?" he was still a little confused at this...

"Of course. I don't want you to get hurt, and things can get dangerous."

Naruto blushed and paid her the money for the food along with the gas. It was a struggle to hold it all at once by he managed. "See ya." Naruto called as he walked out side.

"Bye kid, stay safe." The woman gave a small wave and returned to her duties.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Sasuke grabbed the back of Naruto's head and gave him a swift headbutt that knocked Naruto off of him off of his body and made him fall back involuntarily to the ground. "Pay attention Dobe!" Sasuke shouted, standing up before he ran and Naruto and drove a swift kick into his stomach.

Naruto let out a loud grunt as he felt the wind being knocked out of him, he gasped, coughing out the water he'd inhaled as he did so. "What do you care if I pay attention or not?" From the ground Naruto dived at him, latching on to Sasuke from the waist and taking him down to the ground. He immediately grabbed the assault riffle strapped around his neck and pointed it towards Sasuke, only to find a handgun pressed against his heart. "It's just making it easier for you to kill me. That's what you want right!"

Both of them were in a stalemate, unable to do anything from fear that it would finch and pull the trigger... "You always though I was stupid anyway, lower then you, weaker..." Naruto growled.

"I will acknowledge that you aren't weak, your one of the strongest people I know, we are equal." Sasuke shifted slightly, quickly bringing his arm to the barrel of Naruto's gun and snatching it away, but while he was doing that Naruto was taking the same course of action and pulled the handgun from Sasuke. Both of them tossed the weapons away, knowing they wouldn't have time to turn them and use them.

Sasuke flipped backwards, kicking Naruto in the chin as he did so. He gracefully came to his feet, leaning back and throwing another kick at the other boy, Naruto grabbed him by the leg and pulled him sharply. Picking Sasuke up painfully by the extremity as he fell backwards, he slammed him on the ground with a splash and a thump. Sasuke pulled away, kicking Naruto off with his other leg and stumbling forward. His hand immediately reached for his mouth where blood was streaming out from someplace inward, this was as hard as he expected it to be.

Naruto's fighting style was so unpredictable, it wasn't nearly as organized as Sasuke's.

Sasuke and Naruto quickly stood once more, watching each other again, panting slightly. Naruto again ran headstrong at Sasuke, his mind still blocking out all thought of Sasuke or anything that may distract him. "You bastard, I can't believe you just forsaken everything! Just that easily." Naruto grabbed Sasuke by the shoulders as jumped, driving his knee into the other's face and then driving both feet into Sasuke's chest to kick him as he flipped off of him.

Sasuke faltered, barely stopping himself from falling, "You sentential fool." Sasuke reached forward with one hand and caught Naruto's fist in mid-throw, Then he thrust his fist in to Naruto's forcibly extended arm. A small crack could be heard and Naruto immediately drew back and loudly hissed in pain. "I hate you."

Naruto's eyes widened and he pulled his now limp and fractured arm back, a shocked expression came over his rain soaked face. For that moment he didn't feel the intense pain of a fractured or possibly broken arm "Take that back!"

"Make me!" Sasuke took advantage of the frozen Naruto, throwing another strong punch at him.

Naruto steeped to the side and out of the way so that he was side by side with the other boy, then he sent a devastating kick to the side of his head. "You liar! You can't tell me you honestly hate me! This was as much for me as it was for you, you needed me just like I needed you!"

Sasuke's body was sent flying sideways, a splash of water shooting up when he hit the ground. He was immediately pelted with the full force of the rain that washed down a stream of blood from a wound opened from Naruto's blow. "I didn't need you." he said with the small hint of pain in his voice.

Naruto's anger grew even stronger, his whole body was shaking now. "You..." Sasuke was right, the time for talking was over. Naruto clinched his left arm, that was needless to say out of the fight, but Naruto wasn't. He jumped in to the air and kicked Sasuke again as other tried to get up. Sasuke took the blow, and countered by driving his fist into Naruto's stomach with a powerful upper cut.

Naruto was knocked back on to the ground, clinching his stomach with his only working arm while the other fell to the ground painfully. The rain seemed to make it sting as it struck the damaged limb, leaving behind a throbbing feeling that still resided by the time he got off the ground. He looked back as brought himself to stand again, he hadn't notice how close he'd gotten to it. Now it was only about 2 feet at the most from the north side. That had been his mistake.

That second he'd taken to look back, had been what Sasuke needed. Naruto turned ahead only to see a fist connected right with his jaw. Naruto stumbled backwards, but quickly grabbed Sasuke by the collar and then by the neck. Sasuke nearly fell from the sudden weight and Naruto was barely keeping himself from going over the edge. "Let go of me!" Sasuke shouted, drawing his arm back and punching Naruto in the face, then once more, and then continued repeatedly as he tried to make him let go.

Naruto still kept his increasingly tightening grip "Not a chance in hell!" Naruto yelled, thrusting his head forward and giving Sasuke a sharp headbutt, which was more then enough to make Sasuke lose balance. He placed one foot forward, but found that Naruto was gaining power on him though he was only using one hand. Naruto pulled Sasuke's head under his arm, bringing half of his body over the edge, farther then he wanted to be.

It was a battle of strength, and Sasuke was loosening.

"Naruto...I, I love you."

Naruto froze at the words, quickly feeling his blood turn cold and chills running up his spine. Before he could say anything in reply, Sasuke pushed forward and sent both of them tumbling over the edge of the 20 story tower...

Sasuke grabbed Naruto by the injured arm, making him scream out in pain and lose his grip on Sasuke just before he fell. Sasuke was able to jump backwards and let Naruto fall on his own...but not with out Naruto reaching up with on last pull of will and grabbing hold of Sasuke's head, pulling his whole body down to the ground and smashing his head in to the edge of the roof before he lost his grip and fell.

Sasuke was left laying face down on the edge of the building, a large gash over his forehead and a dizzy, disoriented feeling from Naruto's final, desperate and failed attack. "Hhh..." Sasuke picked himself up, watching blood stream down his face, Naruto was really gone, he had really fallen over.

Orochimaru's voice called out to him from the back of the helicopter across the roof. "Sasuke! Let's go, now!" Apparently Orochimaru had returned from what ever business he'd attended too and Kabuto was ready to go. He could already hear a subtle change in the helicopter's engine...

"Goodbye...Naruto." Sasuke ignored his pain for the moment as he turned from the edge and walked towards the duel rotor propeller aircraft.

Silently he entered it and watched as the hatched closed behind him...

"I'M NOT DONE YET!"

The sound of a second aircraft could be heard from the north side of the tower, and slowly Naruto rose. Panting heavily, his hair plastered to his head just above his eyes, clinching his injured arm and limping heavily from the fall as he stood on the wing of a blue jet, just above the numbers 4477. He looked in visible pain.

Just under both wings and from one of the engines in the back, a thick cloud of black smoke was billowing from the damaged it'd suffered before. It was truly on it's last leg, barely flying and could collapse at any moment. In-spite of that Iruka's plain rose to roof level, and with the smoke rising over the windshield directly the pilot couldn't even see Naruto let alone know he was there. Naruto knew that much, but he also knew there were two handles on the top of Iruka's wing for some unknown purpose. So he knelt down, holding one them with his able hand and hooking his foot under the other.

The rain wasn't making this easy, and in-spite of the trouble Iruka was having Kabuto's duel propeller helicopter rose easily through the wet air. Iruka had nothing but fully manual, unCPU-assisted piloting and radio reduced so much in range and quality it wasn't worth mentioning. And on top of that were his injures, he wasn't sure how bad and of what nature but blood was streaming out of a whole on his left side, flowing in a lot less volume from his right leg and a large gash on the back of his neck. He wasn't going to give up though, he lifted the aircraft in to the air and followed after Kabuto, it took nearly all of his strength to keep the jet from falling to the side and crashing.

"Kabuto..." Iruka scowled, his voice strained from the pain that came with each movement. With little visibility he piloted the aircraft toward the helicopter, just as it lifted over the clouds.

Naruto struggled to hold on from the turbulence that came from flying through the clouds that carried the storm. It was freezing cold inside, and felt as if a wave of water had just smashed into him, it was almost enough to make him lose his grip. But with a loud grunt he held on, sighing in relief as they rose above into the crystal clear night sky, coming into a sea of bright stars and shining moon. Normally he would have appreciated this view...'...' Naruto looked around him, it was a breath taking sight, he found himself taking a deep breath, taking in all of the view before returning to focus on the helicopter Iruka was gaining on.

With out hesitation Iruka opened fire with the duel Glatting guns under each wing, his last 2 missiles dropped from under the plane's body as it passed over the aircraft, connecting directly in the center.

! - ! - !

"We're under attack." Kabuto called out in surprise, diligently shifting controls to minimize damage and add defense as well as evasion.

Orochimaru took the seat next to Kabuto in the cockpit. "By who!"

"...I don't believe it! He can't be alive." Kabuto said in disbelief as he watched a smoldering blue aircraft descend in front of them. "It's Iruka..."

Konohamaru's attention immediately peeked from the front of the front of the hold, just behind the door to the cockpit. He looked over at Sasuke, sitting across from him with his arms folded and his head tilted to the air to keep blood from his eyes, shooting an angry him a glare and a small, sarcastic smile.

Sasuke stood up, "Don't get too cocky." He said as he walked in to the cockpit, peering between the pilot and the co-pilot seat. With one look his expression changed from cool and collective to immediate shock. Naruto was on the left wing, looking directly into the cock pit, looking directly at him... 'How...did he...? Naruto.'

"Do something about it then." Orochimaru said in annoyment.

Kabuto pressed a blue button right next to the throttle after performing a long line of process that came before it. "Already on it." He said, though this type of aircraft wasn't built for attacking, Kabuto was more then able to outfit it with a few weapons, if only he could get them working properly.

A large missile, apparently built as a bomb to take down large spread areas and a different purpose completely, dropped from the bottom of the helicopter. Shifting slightly, it streaked forward at Iruka in a radiance of heat and sound. "Damnit!" Iruka tried to turn, or at least fall back since if he just let the ship do a strait drop by cutting the engine he'd never be able to pull out of it, both weren't able to be done fast enough since the ship's speed was severally cut.

Naruto clinched his eyes shut and turned his head away. "Iruka!"

The missile exploded, engulfing the jet with thick flames...Naruto, not finding himself being incinerated, lifted his head to find he come with in an inch of the rushing flames that seemed to glide a few feet over the steel surface and Naruto. "Huh?" Naruto felt a rush of wind, as is something moving extremely fast had passed him, he quickly turned his head in the direction but looked only in time to see the back end of a passing black streak. It quickly slowed though, enough for him to see the unblurred form of a black fighter plane, the body was similar to Iruka's only the wings were shorter and stretched much wider.

It's basic form spoke volumes to Iruka, this wasn't any ordinary plane, and it was helping them.

A voice transmitted on to Iruka's radio, he was amazed that it was still working. "Iruka, you alright?"

"Commander Sarutobi?" Iruka exclaimed in surprised, " You came! Your actually here! You made it all the way here."

"Calm down." Asuma's black aircraft hovered directly over Iruka, the air current emitted from small vets on the bottom pushed down the black smoke radiating from distinct parts that could easily seen in the clear, night sky. "Sorry I'm late, I had to stop and pick someone up."

"?"

Iruka nearly jumped when he heard Kakashi's voice "Iruka, I didn't think you'd make it for a minute there. Oh, and you have some extra weight on your left wing, might want to take a look."

Iruka glanced out of the left side of his windshield, unable to see anything but a blur of orange through fractures in the glass..."Na-Naruto?"

"Where are the others?"

"Th-there inside, I thought Naruto was with them..." Iruka watched the orange form carefully, he was amazed Naruto had held on this long and all of the resistance he'd must have faced...Iruka pulled down a yellow and black striped lever just above him that released the windshield, but it was so weak that it broke off completely and fell down to the ground...not that he cared at the moment. "Naruto!"

Naruto glanced over toward the cockpit, his eyes strained, watery, and red from the wind and smoke being blown at him. "Iruka?" He managed to cough out, shaking away any stray tears as he smirked weakly. "Took you long enough to find me."

"Naruto..." Iruka nearly cried he was so happy, and screamed at him self he was so angry for leaving him out there so long, it took all of his will to resisted hugging Naruto. Naruto crawled along the wing, dragging his left arm as he did so, and into the back seat behind Iruka's. Panting heavily, Naruto grunted and cringed as he strapped himself in, not with out obvious pain from his injuries that plagued him.

Iruka shook his head and sighed, he could only give Naruto a look that told him how sorry he was.

"Ready Iruka?" Asuma asked.

"Yes sir."

"Alright then, just stay low." Asuma told him, "Looks like one more hit and your through..."

Iruka let the ship slowly descend a few feet while Asuma lined up with him, "Naruto, keep your head low." he said, knowing that with no windshield to protect them it would be hard on both of them. With unspoken signals he and Asuma both nodded and accelerated. Both aircrafts shot forward, Iruka sweeping over the right side of the Helicopter with a line of AP ammunition while Asuma released two missiles from the left. One of which exploded in-between the propellers while the other exploded directly in the center.

The helicopter veered to the side, falling slowly...It seemed to break in-half not have much of a defense in the first place which was even weaker on the sides, but this was more of an intentional maneuver. To keep the whole ship from going up it broke into two parts, one for each propeller, witch acted as a parachute.

"Oh man, we actually did it..." Iruka watched in awe for a moment, but he snapped out of it quickly. "I'm going for Sasuke and Konohamaru since they're probably in the back."

"Iruka, you can't"

"Commander Sarutobi, I need you to take my ship."

"Are you sure about this?"

"Yeah."

"...Alright." Asuma reluctantly set the plane on Autopilot, he was able to think of all of the things that could go wrong. Iruka could miss the jump, he could be making a huge mistake, Orochimaru might be there, and Iruka would be way out of his league, even if he was at 100 "Kakashi."

Kakashi waved discardingly "I got it, just go."

Asuma nodded and opened the windshield, without any apprehension he climbed on to the wing, shutting the windshield behind him before running to the tip. He found it easy to keep his cool as he dived overboard from over 20,000 feet, landing comfortably 20 feet later next to Iruka who was standing on the seat now. "Thank you."

Naruto looked to his left where he saw the back half of the helicopter falling slowly past them, this was it "Be careful. Sasuke's not himself...his with that bastard Orochimaru." He said weakly, before closing his eyes and passing out, he was already barely coherent from the fall and it was remarkable he'd stayed awake as long as he did. He get didn't see Iruka run nervously to the edge of the right wing, making the whole ship tilt as Asuma quickly brought it under control. Nor did he see how his injures slowed him down so much, or if Iruka made the jump or not...

! - ! - !

Sasuke grabbed hold of the wall to keep from falling, glancing down at Konohamaru who had been knocked unconscious from the blast and was now laying at his feet. Sasuke was pressed against a shutter that serrated the cockpit and the storage right before they disconnected, 'Damnit...' He growled to himself, it was apparent that this wasn't over the moment he saw Naruto was still alive.

Thump, clash

Sasuke looked up, Iruka was standing at the edge of the back hatch, it'd been knocked open from the blast and seemed unable to close now. A suction was created, drawing everything towards it, and the man seemed to be fight against it now. "Iruka."

"Sasuke." Iruka walked towards him, keeping his eyes on Konohamaru the whole time. He was holding his right side with his left arm that had thick gashes up to his bicep. When he walked the damages to his right leg made him limp and slowed him down immensely, even the cut on the back of his neck seem to slow him down. What was strange though was that the cut over his nose had re-opened sometime in his attempt to get over here. "I guess you don't want to come back with me huh?"

Sasuke snorted and took a step forward in front of Konohamaru, unwilling to let Iruka take him. "Get out of here."

Iruka sighed, finding himself quickly pleading with the boy "Sasuke, do you realize what your doing?"

"Do you?"

"Yes, and I'm sure you don't want to here from someone like me, but you have to come back with me." Iruka pleaded "Please just"

Sasuke growled in anger as he took another step towards the approaching Iruka "Damnit, I don't want to hear any more of your Bullshit!"

"Sasuke" Iruka was cut off by a sharp kick to his jaw, he found himself too shocked to realize that he'd fallen from the force. 'He just...' Iruka lifted a hand to his cheek where the blow had come from, his eyes immediately reflecting a hurt much more painful then physical. Sasuke really hit him, with out apprehension or remorse 'He really is...I-I have to stop him...I- I have to don't I?' Iruka shook off the blow as he rose to his feet.

Sasuke was there in a second , taking one step forward and driving his fist upward into Iruka's stomach. "You idiot, I told you to get lost!"

Iruka almost found himself about to hit Sasuke back as a reflexive defense...but he couldn't, he just couldn't do it if he tried. 'No, I'm not fighting him...I'm not going to do it, there's no point!' He said to himself stubbornly, cringing from the sharp pain coursing through him, Sasuke was stronger then he thought. "Stop this Sasuke! I'm not going to fight you." Iruka only stood up strait and looked directly into his eyes, trying to think of something to say.

"You naive fool." Sasuke threw another punch at Iruka's stomach, striking his wounded side more as he drove more and more blows into passive man, each one stronger then the last. The bleeding had slowed over the last few hours, but Sasuke had effectively reopened any thing that had healed or clotted. "Your not my father, so stop trying to be him!"

Iruka grunted in pain, stumbling backwards into the wall, it was imposable to stay rooted in this kind of attack. Sasuke seemed to be hitting harder then before, and Iruka was letting him "I-know that. But Sasuke"

"Your pathetic!" Sasuke scowled, jumping upward and driving his foot into Iruka's face. He's struck hard to splatter blood from the cut on his nose. "You don't have anything so you cling to us, I am not your son you weak idiot, and neither is Naruto!" Sasuke took a step back, getting a small boost of speed before he drew back his arm and drove his fist into Iruka's chest with all of his strength. It was enough to force Iruka to hunch over and fall forward on to his knees, he felt blood flowing out from the inside of his mouth which he expelled in loud coughs.

"Sasuke...Just stop this, please."

"What the hell's wrong with you!" Sasuke yelled, lifting his foot and delivering a swift kick in to Iruka's side, lifting him off the ground slightly before knocking him down completely flat on his stomach. "Fight back damn you!"

"No. You stop."

Sasuke yelled in frustration, only to feel himself start getting weak...and then pass out.

"Kakashi?" Iruka looked up to see the white haired man standing there with Sasuke over one shoulder and Konohamaru over the other. He'd snuck up when they weren't pay attention and knocked the boy out "?"

He was completely serous, more so then Iruka had ever seen him, and he was looking down at Iruka as if he was confused. "Why...didn't you fight back?"

"..." Iruka just stared down at the ground silently as he picked himself up. "Let's... get out of here..."

As if on cue there was a sudden explosion from below that knocked both of them to the ground. "What was that!" Kakashi looked around in confusion as he stood again, scooping up Konohamaru and Sasuke as he did so.

"That came from under us...Orochimaru must be attacking from the ground..."He said, watching rain start to seep into the many openings after they'd falling below the clouds. "If we don't get him off of us, we'll never make it back to the ship alive."

Since Asuma hadn't stopped the attacks it was apparent that he was having problems of his own, especially since he had to manage 2 ships at the same time on his own. They needed to stop Orochimaru, or at least get his attention off of them long enough to get away... 'How are we suppose!' Kakashi slipped his hand in to his pocket, retrieving Zabuza's remote, "Get ready to run."

"What's that?"

"It's about to be one hell of a distraction..." Kakashi ran to the back hatch and peered out of it, his was met by a torrent of rain which had told him that they'd drifted below the clouds again. He looked down, holding himself just out of the doorway with his arm and pointing the remote toward the ground.

The rain made it hard to see anything but white streaks of falling water, his hair hung down in soaked strands, just barely staying out of his muti-colored eyes 'Thank you...Zabuza.'

Kakashi clinched his eyes shut and pushed the button, and almost immediately a white light emitted from below, surround them in a blinding flare and engulfing them in a horribly loud sound.