A/N. Chapter 5 here, entitled Rescue. Enjoy

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A solitary figure dashed through the night, sailing between treetops, searching for sources of food. As he landed on a branch he stopped suddenly, concentration shown clearly on his face. He wore long black pants, and a blood red shirt, over which he wore and black vest, matching his pants. On his forearms were arm bracers, kunai holster strapped to his thigh, and a katana slung holstered behind his shoulder, sheathe angling across his back. Long, black spiky hair hung down his back just past the sword sheathe. He looked to his right.

"Over there, a presence...no, two people", he thought to himself, "better check it out."

Leaping down from his tree branched he walked slowly towards where he sensed potential enemies, not wanting his presence sensed. Upon arriving at his destination, he gathered chakra to his feet and walked slowly up a tree trunk onto a branch, giving him a full view of the scene.

"Hmm lets see", he thought, "a Leaf ninja standing on his own. Where's the other one I sensed?"

Suddenly a blonde kid stumbled out from a bush, minor wounds on his body.

"A blonde kid? Could he be...? No way!"

The two combatants appeared to exchange a few words, before the kid was nailed by shuriken that seemed to come from nowhere. The watching figured eyes widened as he gasped. The Leaf ninja walked over to the kid, standing on his wrist.

"Shit", thought the man, "if that kid is who I think he is, I might have to interfere" his hand reaching for the handle of his katana as he crouched ready to leap down.

He stopped himself suddenly, as he saw four copies of the blonde kid appear behind the Leaf ninja, and proceeded to execute an impressive aerial combo.

The figure grinned. "Not bad, kid"

He watched the kid and his clones jump down to the fallen Leaf. After a moment three of the clones held down the man as the real kid held out his hand.

"What the hell..."

A ball of chakra started to form in his palm aided by the clone.

"This kid can perform RASENGAN!" his mind yelled.

He listened intently to the conversation down below.

"Who the hell are you?" yelled the Leaf ninja.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and I'll kill anyone who stands in my way" came the reply.

"Uzumaki. That confirms it. Shit, this is unbelievable" thought the man.

The ball of chakra was plunged into the man's chest, creating a shockwave.

"Holy SHIT!" yelled the man as the ground physically shook from the shockwave, shaking him from his perched position on the branch. As he fell, he gripped the bottom of the branch with the bottom of his feet with chakra and continued to watch the scene hanging upside down.

"This is intense" he thought as he watched the Rasengan drill through the ninja. Another small explosion then shook him enough to unstick him from the branch.

Glancing down, his eyes widened as he noticed his feet not stuck where they should be, "GAH!". He gracefully steadied himself and landed on his feet, looking up just in time to see the blonde kid smashing midair into the rock face.

"Fuck! This is bad, this is bad! I'm comin kid, hold on!" he thought as he took off towards the rock face.

"Please be OK..."

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As he lay unconscious, memories of the past haunted Naruto. Sasuke. Everything they had been through.

Years ago when they had been small children. Everyone loved Sasuke. He could do anything. Something Naruto envied, though he would never admit his inferiority. He strived to be like Sasuke, but the gap in their abilities never closed.

Then the day he became a Genin. He was assigned to Sasuke's team. Outwardly, he displayed his disgust, boasting that a great ninja like him shouldn't be on a team with that bastard. The truth was, he felt happy about it. This was his chance to become as good as the Uchiha. He would surpass him. He would be acknowledged by him.

Weeks later, they were assigned the mission to protect the bridge builder. The weird ninjas in black attacked with chains. Naruto froze up, and his life was saved by him. The bastard. To make it worse he rubbed it in.

"Yo, your not hurt are you, Scaredy Cat?"

Sasuke's words struck deep. The gap was still so wide between them. Why? WHY? He had worked so hard everyday, yet couldn't come close to being even with the damn Uchiha.

Later in the mission, they had even worked together to fight the Jounin, Zabuza. They had been successful in freeing their Sensei from his water prison. Finally he felt like he had done something right. And with the tree climbing exercise given to them by Kakashi, he had caught up to Sasuke. They had both climbed to the top of the tree. Maybe the gap between them was closing. Days later his hopes would be shattered as he and Sasuke fought Zabuza's ally, Haku. Naruto had fought with everything he had, and achieved nothing. Reaching his limit, he fell to the ground unconscious while he continued to stand. Protecting him, even dying for him, save for the mist ninja showing a final act of mercy, merely placing him in a near state of death. But both Naruto and Sasuke thought that the Uchiha's life would end. It was there Sasuke uttered his last words, pleading for Naruto to survive. He actually cared about him. It was there they both realised they had formed a friendship, only for it to end as quickly as it had formed. He would kill the one who did this.

After the battle, Naruto turned to see Sasuke standing there, completely fine. He was relieved, happy. His friend was still alive. But from there things only got worse. Back in the village, the bastard still wouldnt recognize him, again rubbing it in that he had saved his life.

"If you don't want to owe me anything, become stronger than me"

Again Naruto's world seemed to shatter. It was true. He had been saved again by someone stronger. He had to become stronger. He would be acknowledged.

Months later, he once again was forced to fight alongside the Uchiha in a life threatening situation. The demon container Gaara flew towards Sasuke, who was struggling to stand. Naruto swept in with a fierce kick to the demons head. Sasuke had tried to tell Naruto to take Sakura and run, and that he would hold off Gaara as long as he could. He was prepared to die for his precious people. The words precious people set off something in Naruto. He had to be strong to protect his precious people. It was there he revealed his true strength to Sasuke, defeating Gaara. He had to be recognised now. Again, what he strived for was denied.

After the Chuunin Exam's the Perverted Hermit had taken him away, and taught him a cool new technique. He had learnt it astonishingly quickly, far far beyond anyone's expectations. And through learning it, he had become much, much stronger. He returned to the village with the legendary medical ninja, Tsunade. She could heal his friend, who had been in a coma after fighting his brother. Then something unexpected happened. Sasuke challenged him to combat. He had waited and waited for the chance to cross fists with his friend, to test his abilities. But something was different.

"Put on your head protector. I'll wait" he demanded of Sasuke

Sasuke's voice almost had an evil quality to it. "I don't need it, since you won't even be able to put a scratch on my forehead"

"No," yelled Naruto "it's a sign he fight as equal Leaf shinobi!". The fight he had always wanted. He didn't want to fight his rival with anger and any intention to hurt or kill. He just wanted to prove himself.

"That's why I said you're cocky! You actually think theirs a chance you and I are equal!"

Naruto's pride and irritation at Sasuke's arrogance took control of his next words. "Of course! In fact I never thought I was inferior to you! Ever!" That wasn't exactly true, but he would never admit that to him. Ever.

"You're pissing me off!" yelled Sasuke.

Naruto saw his chance. Sasuke had rubbed it in when he saved his life, why shouldn't he do the same? He had saved the bastards life, and all he got in return was this persistent arrogance.

"That's because you're still weak, Sasuke-chan!"

He saw the Uchiha come at him, and he knew his words had an effect, for Sasuke looked like he wanted blood. The two rivals fought hard, and they fought evenly, matching each other blow for blow. Sasuke than decided to torch him with a fire technique. Naruto retaliated by his only real offensive technique, Rasengan. Sasuke matched again with Chidori, and they launched towards each other. Just before impact, he felt a hand grab his wrist and spin him away from his rival. Both of them slammed into large water tanks, their palms still outstretched containing their attacks. Naruto felt the Rasengan launch from his palm and the resulting blast out of the back of the water tank, leaving a hole half the size of the tank. He quickly glanced sideways to see Sasuke's tank with a medium sizes hole in the front. He had done it, he had finally beaten the bastard. Sasuke couldn't deny it now. He waited for Sasuke to say something, but all he did was run away. What did he have to do to be recognised?

Naruto soon got the words that Sasuke had fled from the village. He and his team had chased him for three days, all of them becoming separated at some point. Finally he had caught up to his friend, begging him to return home. Sasuke merely replied with violence. What had happened to him?

Naruto looked up from the surface of the water into Sasuke's cold eyes.

"Do you, no longer consider me a friend?"

"No, to me you have become, my best friend. That is why it is worth killing you"

Best friend? Best friend? Worth killing him? What was going on?

Sasuke's intentions were confirmed as he ran towards him, Chidori blazing on his palm, which Naruto met with a Rasengan. The attacks collided causing an explosion of chakra, sending both of their bodies flying in opposite directions.

Naruto lay floating on the water. Sasuke was serious. He was trying to kill him. After everything...everything that had happened.

Sasuke launched various attacks at Naruto, who was too stunned at the fact his best friend was trying to kill him to even fight back. Sasuke stood, holding Naruto by the throat with one hand, another Chidori in the other.

Anger bubbled inside Naruto. Worth killing him? For power? Did their friendship mean nothing? Had Sasuke planned this all along? He must have. It was a lie. The whole time. A lie. Just so he could become his friend and kill him for whatever reason he was trying to. It was then he felt something inside of him die. Suddenly the world was a darker place to Naruto. This was life. Pain, hate and betrayal. Fuck him. Fuck the mission. He deserves to die.

He barely felt being impaled by the Chidori as he felt strange power enter him. His wound healed almost instantly. Red rings of chakra encircled his body. The Uchiha will die.

Sasuke watched in fear and awe as the blonde features turned demonic, then he disappeared. He saw nothing, but felt his left arm impaled by...a claw? Blood sprayed from the wound and he clutched it with his other arm, screaming. His other arm was then impaled by the same invisible force, and dropped to his side, both arms now useless. Powerless to fight, he felt his legs taken out in the same fashion, and he fell through the surface of the water, unable to use chakra to keep himself on the surface. Then he felt a hand grab him by the collar and pull him out of the water. His limbs hung limply as the blonde pulled him face to face. Where did this power come from? Naruto then spoke in a demonic voice

"Worth killing me huh? So you've been friends with me this whole time for your own selfish gain? You're pathetic. You will die for your treachery"

Sasuke felt himself being thrown, and his body smashed against the rock face. Naruto was over his body the instant he struck the rocks, and a demonic claw filled his vision before his world went black.

Naruto stood over Sasuke's body, his claw centimeters off impaling his face. He felt the demons chakra leave him, as rational thought reentered his mind. No. If he killed the Uchiha, the mission would be for nothing, his team risking their lives, for nothing. His promise to Sakura would mean nothing. The bastard did deserve to be killed, but there were things that meant more than his personal feelings. Sighing, he wrapped Sasuke's claw wounds and picked up his body, setting off for the village. So much for acknowledgment.

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"Yo kid, you awake?"

Naruto opened his eyes, to meet a pair as blue as his own.

"H-huh? Where am I?" he asked, slowly sitting up.

"Whoa, whoa, careful, man. You have a broken wrist, a few broken ribs and multiple shuriken wounds. And probably a nice headache to go with it, lay down and get some more rest"

Naruto returned to his lying down position. As far as he could tell, he was in a cave, next to a fire.

"I guess I have you to thank for saving me," He turned his head to regard the black haired ninja, who looked to be around 18 "ya got a name?"

The 18 year old grinned and stuck out his hand. "Yep, Katsuro. Uzumaki Katsuro. Nice to meet ya."

Naruto's eyes widened. "Uzumaki...who the hell are you!"

Katsuro grinned and closed his eyes. "Well my best guess is, I'm your big brother"

A/N: Sorry, for the long ass flashback chapter, but I wanted to show the gradual change in Naruto and Sasuke's rivalry and how Naruto came to hate him, and how he actually brought him back to the village. I thought a good way to show it would be a flashback in his own head while Naruto was unconscious. Anyways, like I said, opinions and criticisms welcome, so if you have any thoughts on how the story is coming direct them to the reviews section if you have the time.