A/N: School starts again on Monday. : While it does mean I'll be seeing old faces, it also means that until I stop working (which will be a couple of weeks), I'll have to ration my time. I may not update so quickly anymore, though I'll be damned if I don't try.

On a positive note, I have something to share with you all. Gabzilla, bless her, has given my two excellent original characters something they never had before: visual aid! Be sure to check out this glorious fanart and others by this great artist when you have a moment.

And now, since I have already received multiple death threats that I am not entirely certain won't be carried out if I don't write this chapter, I give you the finale of the second Sound attack.

Behold! The next installment of Lifethane's masterpiece:

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Joined at the Soul

Uchiha Sasuke was one part human and two parts monster. He should have been all-parts mental patient, as evidenced by his rapidly growing desire to kill a young man that was trying to help him. But he was not a mental patient; he was free, and his once-handsome form was beginning to mirror the terrible, evil shadow that enveloped his heart.

He had become the creature that had haunted Naruto's nightmares for three years. His skin had been entirely consumed by the mark of the cursed seal on his neck, and the evil, mutative powers of that black power had left it a dull, sickly-looking bronze. His raven-black hair had grown and fanned out like the hood of a spitting cobra, and it was mottled with ash-gray, dead streaks. As Naruto and Hinata watched, hideous webbed hands erupted from his back, cracking and popping as the unnatural joints aligned themselves with the natural bone of his shoulder blades. Naruto remembered that those disgusting appendages could be used as a defensive shroud, as well as wings that would allow him to stay airborne for unnatural distances after a leap. Sasuke's grinning mouth became more satirical than even Haruka could manage, as two evil little fangs protruded from his upper jaw.

There was no light in Sasuke's eyes. Even the whites had grown inky black, a reflection of the decay in his soul. Although the Sharingan blazed in his irises, the fire in them was dark and consuming.

The simple sight of this creature pained Naruto. He had held out hope, all these years, that somewhere beneath the Avenger, the power-crazed killing machine that would do anything—even sell his own soul—to be able to kill his older brother, his friend, Uchiha Sasuke of Team Seven, was still alive. True to his nindo and to the promise that his nindo bound him to fulfill, he had refused to give up that hope. Yet, whenever he saw the face of this monstrosity, whether in his dreams or now, in reality, he could find no trace of his friend and rival there. In these times, Jiraiya's warning that his efforts would only bring him pain came bubbling to the surface of his brain.

Always, he gave the same answer.

I'm not like you, stupid Ero-Sennin, he would think. I'm stronger, and I'm stubborner. I'll drag the bastard back and make him sorry if it kills me. Screw you and your warnings!

It was difficult to bring that defiance to his mind now, with his mind and body drained and the devil standing before him. Sasuke's cursed form had only grown more ominous with age. His webbed-hand wings were even larger than before, and his musculature seemed almost to be like that of a statue of a vengeful god Naruto had once seen, only cast in impure bronze rather than marble.

But, remembering all that had happened that night—Sakura's bold attempt to fight Sasuke, the brave gamble made by the little Hyuuga girl, and Hinata's selfless intent to face this monster alongside him despite the incredible danger—he found the strength anew.

Screw Ero-Sennin's attempt at wisdom, he thought. I made a promise, and I'm going to keep it. Too much has been lost for me to give it up now. I have Kyuubi's chakra, and the fox isn't going to fight me for it, at least for now. And...

He looked to his right, at Hinata. She faced the threat as courageously as anyone else had tonight; she was firmly in her traditional combat stance, her burning white eyes fixated boldly on their enemy, watching for any sudden movement. She did not shake or tremble, but stood fast with determination.

Only in her lavender-tinted pupils was there any sign of fear, and even that was minimal, surrounded by a layer of resignation. Naruto could see that she knew full well the liklihood of her own death, and that though she clearly would rather not, she was prepared for the worst. Naruto was reminded of Sakura, whom Sasuke had left broken and bleeding on the edge of a smoldering crater. The same look had been in her green eyes.

And what Hinata had said to him only moments ago...

... I have one of the greatest friends I'll ever have with me, Naruto thought. I won't let Sasuke make a corpse of her.

"Hinata," Naruto said, his eyes returning to the threat, "Take off your jacket. It'll make it easier for me to find the right places to link up."

"Okay," replied his new partner. Hurriedly, Hinata removed the outer garment, leaving on a lighter, shorter-sleeved shirt that would be easier for the Ghostly Arms to maneuver through.

Satisfied that he would have enough room, Naruto nodded. "Okay. Let's see if I can do this..."

Sasuke, however, had already finished his own preparations.

"Whatever you're planning," he said, vanishing seemingly into thin air with incredible speed, "It won't come to fruition!"

Naruto, who had been trying to concentrate on finding Hinata's tenketsus with his feelers, was only partially on his guard, and he barely registered the punch coming at him in time. He made a bright red wall out of his nine tails in front of him, blocking the punch. However, the force contained within the speeding fist staggered him, sending his dug-in feet skidding backward several yards.

Sasuke was visible for a moment as he recoiled from his failed blow, then he vanished again.

"Naruto-kun, he's too fast!" Hinata warned. "I can barely see him before he attacks... wait, he's...!"

Her sentence was cut off by the impact of another fist against Naruto's defensive tail-shield.

"...To your left!" Hinata said, far too late. Sasuke grinned at her as he flashed away again.

"Damn it," Naruto said, "I can keep up with his attacks and protect myself, but how the hell am I supposed to catch him if he's moving that fast?"

Hinata didn't have an answer. She could also keep aware of the Uchiha's movements and notice an attack before it came, but she could not do so fast enough to warn or help Naruto.

I'm lucky he's attacking just Naruto-kun right now, she realized. If he were coming after me, I wouldn't be able to block it so easily, and dodging would be a gamble; it takes longer, and the Sharingan might see through it...

Naruto kept his spare feelers fully extended and probing for more attacks, even as he sought Hinata's chakra coils.

Yet, in the next moment, his feelers were rendered useless, as were his eyes. In the sky, it was as though someone had turned off the moon and stars, leaving only an inky black void. As Naruto looked up to see where all the light had gone, the blackness spread throughout the whole forest, obscuring the trees, the bushes, and even the ground that he and Hinata stood upon. All was completely dark; Naruto could not even see himself. The blackness permeated everything, even the sixth sense provided by the Reiude; though they still functioned, it felt as though they were waving through mud instead of clear air.

"What the...?" Naruto thought aloud. "Hinata, is this genjutsu?"

Hinata didn't answer.

"She won't hear you," came the disembodied voice of Sasuke. "If she's talking to you, you won't be able to hear. My Kagegakure no Jutsu (Hiding in Shadows Technique) obstructs not just sight, but sound as well. You can hear only what I want you to hear."

Experimenting, Naruto found it was true. Though he felt the ground beneath him, he didn't see it, and no matter how hard he kicked at it, the dull thudding noise that he should have heard was inaudible. He strained to feel through his Ghostly Arms. Hinata was still there, but the Reiude's perception of her was muddled and slow. He found himself having to work harder to detect her chakra system's opening points.

He had to complete the synch, and fast. With his eyes blind and his Reiude reduced in effectiveness, he was going to have problems with the next attack. He needed Hinata's superior eyes, the Byakugan that could see through genjutsu like this. Concentrating, he pumped more chakra into his feelers to aid him in looking for the tenketsus...

And was bent nearly double as Sasuke's foot slammed into his gut. Naruto tumbled heels-over-head until some unknown object—it felt like a large rock—got in his way, and he halted with his back to it, the wind knocked out of him.

Shit! Naruto thought. I couldn't pick it up at all!

He felt Hinata's chakra surge beneath his feelers—she had seen what had happened to him and was distressed.

Sasuke grinned to himself in his self-made darkness. Naruto could no longer detect his incoming blows. The battle would soon be over. He clenched his clawed hand into a mighty fist, and dashed towards his old rival for the final time, aiming for his head. He would snap the blond's head backward so hard that his neck snapped.

As he closed to thirty yards, Sasuke began to feel the twinge of remorse and pity for Naruto—the same feelings that had stopped him from killing the blond three years ago. They cut through the black shadow around his heart and drew a trickle of blood.

This is it, he thought grimly. I'm going to kill my best friend. Images of the past, of Team Seven all together again surfaced in his mind. Images of rivalry and spite, and those of shared victories, mutual joys...

No! he thought. Sasuke shoved the memories away. Thinking of that now would only hinder him, prevent him from striking the death blow as it had before. I am going to do it this time, he thought angrily. This is will killing him possible...

Another memory. Naruto yelling at him, his eyes red, saying, "You are now officially the very thing that you set out to destroy!"

"Shut up!" Sasuke hissed at nobody.

He was ten yards away. In another instant, he would be there, and Naruto would be dead. He raised his fist to deliver death to his old friend.

But the next instant saw something other than Naruto's broken neck. It saw Naruto's face light up in hope, then confidence as the boy stood up and—with remarkable reflexes—caught Sasuke's outstretched arm with both hands.

Sasuke's jaw slackened in stark disbelief. He searched his rival's face, trying to understand what had happened. With terrible confusion, he realized that Naruto's eyes were not focused on anything in particular—he still could not see him. Why, then, had he been able to seize Sasuke's arm so easily?

Naruto gave a small laugh, reveling in his triumph over Sasuke's spell.

"Finally," he said. "I was lucky Hinata's chakra spiked, or I wouldn't have found the right spots."

"What are you talking about?" Sasuke asked. He struggled to pull his arm free of Naruto's grasp.

"Hehe... I'm going to get you back for that punch and more, Sasuke. Synchronization: complete!"

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It had taken several long and precious minutes to find the cavern chamber that Sakura had sent her last transmission from, and it was taking several more to find the battle. Kakashi was beginning to feel as he had three years previously, following Pakkun after Naruto and Sasuke's trail. His mind was almost fevered with worry, and more and more he was feeling that it was already too late, that he would fail to stop them again.

"Kakashi-sensei!"

"What is it, Lee?" replied Kakashi. He was glad to be distracted from his grim thoughts.

"I think I've found something! There are smoke wisps drifting up to our east! Could it be damage caused by Naruto-kun or his opponent?"

Kakashi's covered eye was facing east. Turning his good eye in that direction, he saw that the taijutsu specialist was correct.

"It might be," he said. His heart leaped. Though he didn't detect any great chakra in that direction, Naruto was definitely the type to leave such heavy damage in his wake when he was angry. This might put them on the right trail.

"Let's go," he ordered.

"Of course, Kakashi-sensei. Tenten should be there already; she went ahead to investigate it beforehand."

Together, Lee and Kakashi hurried towards the source of the smoke. Within two minutes, they found it.

"A... Amazing," Lee said, surveying the smoldering hole in the forest and the burnt foliage surrounding it.

Kakashi had to agree that it was impressive. No explosive device that he knew of had made it; only the collision of two powerful, conflicting chakras could make such a perfectly round, perfectly clean crater, and only the hottest of unnatural fires could cause the minerals in the soil to melt into slag as some patches of the ground had. What was terribly nerve-wracking, however, was the manner in which the trees around its edge seemed to have been burned partly and then had their fire quenched, and yet there was no sign of water anywhere.

Naruto never learned any jutsu to peel flames from their fuel, as far as I know, Kakashi thought nervously. This could be bad... Sasuke, how powerful have you become?

"Kakashi-sensei, Lee!" called a female voice. Looking around, Kakashi saw Tenten crossing the crater towards them, urgency plastered across her face.

Turning to face his subordinate, Kakashi asked, "What did you find, Tenten?"

"It's Sakura-san," Tenten said. The tone of her voice promised bad news. "I've found her, over there in the trees. She's not..."

She didn't finish her sentence. Lee had taken off in the direction she had pointed the second she had raised her hand, and Kakashi was right behind him as soon as she had finished the word, "trees."

"Hey," she called, starting after them in frustration, "Wait up!"

Lee saw Sakura first. The sight of the pink-haired medical ninja lying on her side at the base of a tree, bruised, bleeding, and crumpled blinded him to everything else. He forgot that he was a shinobi charged with a mission, and acted completely on impulse.

"Sakura-san!" he shouted. He ran to her and knelt by her side, rolling her over onto her back.

"Don't touch her!" Kakashi yelled. "You could make her injuries more serious!" He was no medical ninja, but Kakashi knew the concepts of first aid.

Lee didn't hear him, but he did see Sakura wince painfully, and snatched his hands away from her. He stared at her, eyes full of worry.

"Sakura-san, what did this to you?" he asked in a pained whisper.

"Whatever it was, Lee," said Kakashi, grabbing the young man's shoulder, "Is nothing you need to concern yourself with. I have orders for you, and I expect you to follow them as a loyal ninja should. Is that clear?"

The green-clad Chuunin tensed beneath Kakashi's hand. A short silence passed between them as Lee steadied himself.

"I know my duty, Kakashi-sensei," he said quietly. "I will obey your commands. But I cannot let this stand. When this mission is through, I will..."

"Enough, Lee," Kakashi interrupted. "I need you to find Naruto's trail and follow it, now. Mark your route as you go. I'll tend Sakura as best as I can, mark her position for the medical team, and then catch up with you."

Lee was off like a bullet.

"Tenten."

The girl turned from watching her teammate zoom around the crater and faced Kakashi.

"Hai, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Go to the village and get help. Bring a medical team for Sakura and as many fresh, well-armed ninja as you can. Hurry!"

"Hai!" Tenten rushed away towards the lights of the village.

The masked Jounin did not watch her go. He went to work on his injured subordinate, checking her heartbeat and respiration, testing for broken bones, and stopping the flow of blood from those wounds that were still open. He worked as gently as possible, trying his hardest not to wake his old student up and cause her more pain.

"Ka..." she whispered suddenly. Her voice was weak, haggard.

"Rest, Sakura," Kakashi said. "You'll be all right now. Everything will be fine."

"Kakashi... sensei," Sakura grated. Her breathing brought her unimaginable pain, but she fought to spoke in spite of it.

"You really shouldn't be trying to speak," Kakashi said. He was applying pressure to a pressure point above her left forearm, cutting off circulation to a jagged cut midway between her elbow and her wrist.

Sakura continued anyway. "I found... them," she said. "I healed Naruto's shoulder. We fought. I... wasn't strong enough. Sasuke-kun..."

Kakashi was pained. So it was really Sasuke who had done it after all...

"I wanted to... fight it out to the end," Sakura continued. "Wanted... to stop him myself, by... by my own power. But I acted rashly, against your orders... he saw an invitation, and took it... He was too strong, too fast for me. You... were right. I shouldn't have gone without you."

She labored hard to tell her tale, desperately trying to get her message to her commander. Coughing up blood, she looked up into Kakashi's uncovered eye, seeking a response. It dawned on the masked Jounin, suddenly, what it was that she wanted from him.

"You're forgiven, Sakura," he said.

Sakura nodded, satisfied.

"Find Naruto," she said. "He used... the Kyuubi's chakra. Dangerous for both of them."

Kakashi understood well what she meant by that. Applying the last of the bandages in his first aid pouch, he rose from the forest floor and looked around the crater. He found one of Lee's flares, marking the path he had taken from the area. He lit two flares of his own, and set one on either side of Sakura.

"Don't worry, Sakura," he said. "We'll find them. They won't have gone too far, I think."

Satisfied that he had done all that he could here, he followed after Lee's trail.

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Kakashi caught up to Lee surprisingly quickly. Even more surprising was the company that he found Lee in.

"Where did these two come from?" he asked.

"Oh, there you are, Kakashi-sensei!" said Lee. "I was just about to radio to you. Hanabi-san and Akamaru-kun say that they have just come from Naruto-kun's battle! And the opponent that he faces is..."

"Uchiha Sasuke," Kakashi finished. "I know."

"Oh! You knew all along?" Lee looked somewhat hurt that Kakashi hadn't told him.

Kakashi ignored him. He addressed Hanabi instead.

"How far away are they?" he asked.

"We've been running for about seven minutes, now," replied the young Hyuuga. Her front was spattered with blood, and her eyes were full of fear, but she seemed physically okay. Kakashi could feel the inkling of a large chakra in the distance, confirming his suspicion that they were close.

"What is their condition?"

Hanabi's answer was slow and had an undertone of awe to it. Clearly, she had been treated to quite an ordeal.

"They... they're both alive," she said. "Though they both look like they've had it rough. One of them, the blond one with the red chakra, he took a heavy blow in his shoulder saving my life, but that was healing up on its own when I left. The other one has a bad, circular wound in his side, but it doesn't seem to be slowing him down much. Both of them have amazing power... I hope my sister is all right."

"Your sister?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow. Getting another young person involved was not good...

"Hyuuga Hinata," Hanabi clarified. "She stayed behind to help the blond guy."

This was an interesting development, and the repercussions could be either very good or very bad. Either way, Kakashi knew that there was no time to stand around. It had now been nine minutes since this girl had left on the dog. It would take him and Lee at least six minutes to reach the spot that they had been in, and every minute they wasted was another minute that Sasuke had to run.

"Lee," he ordered, "We're going."

"Hai!"

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Hinata had only a vague idea what to expect from the Synchronization Jutsu. She had listened to Naruto talk about it many nights ago, but he hadn't given her a wealth of information about the technique. She knew that it involved allowing the Ghostly Arms to penetrate the tenketsus, thus linking the chakra coil systems of two people. She remembered that he had said it pooled the chakra of both of the Synchronized parties, and allowed each to perceive the world through the senses of the other. She had expected to see through Naruto's eyes and hear through his ears as one might be able to see and hear a film.

This was far more than she expected, and possibly even more than she thought she could handle. She didn't just perceive through Naruto's senses; Naruto's senses became hers. She could not only see through his blue eyes, but she could understand everything that she saw instantly and vividly, as if they were her own. The same instantaneous and detailed understanding was true for all the sensory input. And even more impressive was the fact that none of it confused the input from her own senses; there was no double-vision. Somehow, her brain processed both sets of information fluently at the same time, and fed it to her consciousness without any clashing at all.

There was more. Hinata found that she could feel Naruto's reaction to the information he received as well. As he saw Sasuke trapped in his vice-like grip, Hinata felt his resurging confidence, the premature triumph. It was not mind-reading; she could not hear his actual thoughts. However, she felt his emotions and his motivations, and was nearly overwhelmed by them. It was like being joined at the soul with him.

And the power...

In her early years, when she had looked at Naruto, she had felt courage—a reaction that persisted to this day.

Now, with the enormous chakra flowing between them, a mix of his, hers, and Kyuubi's, Hinata didn't just feel courage; she also felt confidence and power the like of which she had never felt before. She was incredibly strong, she could fight the world and win, she could do everything!

The darkness of Sasuke's genjutsu lifted, and the moon and stars returned to their rightful home.

"Hinata!" Naruto called. She was so immersed in her new power that she almost didn't hear him. But she looked at him again, and listened.

"Hinata, I've got him," he yelled. "Let's take this bastard down quick so we can drag him home and start celebrating!"

Quick? With all the chakra swirling around her and inside her, red chakra twisting together with blue, Hinata thought it should only take half a heartbeat.

"Okay, Naruto-kun!"

The tiredness that had claimed her after she had aided the Aburame Clan was gone, vanished. Her legs carried her faster than the wind toward her target. In her palm, the Jyuuken bolt of red and blue glimmered visibly, as though anxious to be unleashed. The Sharingan eyes of the captive Uchiha widened in shock and fear at the approach of this unexpected, massive threat.

Sasuke did not easily give up, however. Abruptly, he stopped trying to pull his arm free, dug his feet into the ground, grabbed hold of Naruto's shoulder with his free arm and—with aid from his powerfully flapping mutant wing—twisted, putting Naruto's back between him and the oncoming Jyuuken. He did so in hopes of balking Hinata.

For a moment, Hinata was daunted, and was about to slow herself down out of fear of hitting Sasuke's new human shield. However, the Synchronization told her that Naruto was not daunted, but amused—she could even imagine him laughing. She guessed that he had something in mind, and kept running towards them.

Her intuition served her well; Naruto grabbed Sasuke under the arms with two of his tails and gripped his legs with two more, then let himself fall backward towards the ground. As he fell, he let go of Sasuke's arm and flung him over his head, towards Hinata. The Uchiha went sailing towards the Hyuuga heiress, whose lethal palm strike was held ready.

Knowing that that strike could end his ambitions for good, Sasuke flapped hard with his hand-like "wings" in an effort to fly over Hinata rather than straight toward her. He had surprising success, raising his altitude just out of reach of her arm. He glided over her head with a satisfied chuckle.

Hinata felt anger rise in her, multiplied by Naruto's frustration at his escape. This man had hurt Naruto physically and emotionally, and she wasn't just going to let him fly away unscathed and laughing. She turned to face his retreating back, crossed her arms, and focused chakra into her palms, readying retribution.

The jutsu that she was preparing was meant as a parrying technique, twin short bursts of highly focused chakra lancing out from her palms to cut down an incoming attack. It was a single-target variation of the Shugo Hakke technique, and normally it could destroy or severely damage a weapon or projectile aimed at her using minimal chakra.

Hinata didn't see any need to use minimal chakra; she had almost too much of it anyway. Her palms blazed with flashing red and blue, concentrating so much chakra that it almost burned her hand. Taking aim at the Uchiha, she let off her attack just as he landed on a low tree branch.

"Hakke Nibai Kirite!" (Eight Trigams Twin Cutter)

Sasuke felt the enormous chakra coming, and turned his head, but it was far too late.

Uncrossing her arms, Hinata swung her twin lances of chakra at Sasuke's exposed back. Glowing bright purple, they crossed at the region of his spine, slicing through the base of his "wings" and cutting a deep red "X" between his shoulder blades. Sasuke howled in terrible pain, feeling as though he'd been slashed by a sword—and looking like it, too. The hideous webbed hands fell to the forest floor and crumbled into dust.

"All right!" Naruto cheered. "You got him, Hinata!"

Sasuke turned and glared at them both.

Whatever Naruto did, he thought, they've both become more powerful. Especially the girl there. If I'm not careful, she could be the end of me. And the longer I stay in this form, the less time I have... I have to take her out now if I want to win.

Sasuke drew in a deep breath and flipped through a complicated set of hand seals as he leaped from the branch towards Naruto. He aimed his shot at the side of Naruto that was facing Hinata, and as he hit the ground, he let his breath out.

"Raiton: Kasenkou no Jutsu!" (Lightning Style: Fire Flash Technique)

Naruto expected fire from him, but what emerged from Sasuke's open mouth was not flame, but a blast of white lightning. It crackled through the air with such intensity, however, that the oxygen in the atmosphere around it caught fire. The blast of electricity and conflagration arced towards the blond's side, and Naruto was barely able to leap away from it untouched. It struck the ground instead, hurling chunks of earth in all directions.

Yet Sasuke had not been aiming to hit Naruto; he had been trying to steer him away from his partner, and aiming slightly between them had been enough to make his old teammate run where he wanted him to. For a few moments, Sasuke had Hinata all to himself, and he planned on taking advantage of it.

He found, to his great chagrin, that Hinata was not an easy target as he'd thought she would be. The red chakra of Kyuubi, combined with the blue from both Naruto and herself, was a potent force, and she was able to keep up with him. With both the Reiude and the Byakugan warning her, she easily knew her peril when Sasuke changed the direction of his charge and sped towards her. Sasuke's first lighting-fast punch was subtly deflected an inch to the side of her head by her well-practiced open hand. His follow-up blow, aimed at her stomach, was likewise parried, and then it was her turn to take a shot at him.

As Sasuke twisted out of the way of the Jyuuken bolt coming at his chest, he marveled at its power. He'd heard many times about the skills of the Hyuuga Clan, supposedly distant relatives of the Uchiha. It was said that even a glancing blow could cause terrible internal damage, and this was with their normal chakra. The three-part chakra that she was using now could likely shred his intestines or shatter his heart. Their Byakugan saw in all directions simultaneously, and could pierce the toughest of illusions. To try a hypnotism technique with the Sharingan would be useless.

Dropping to the ground on one leg and launching a spinning kick, which Hinata nimbly avoided, Sasuke wondered how he might outsmart this foe. Her strength and speed were less than his, but she was more than able to protect herself and still try a shot against him occasionally. But while he tried to whittle down her defenses, Naruto was coming to rejoin the fight. How could he turn this in his favor?

While avoiding a pair of kunai from Naruto and another Jyuuken from Hinata simultaneously, an idea came to him. As Naruto closed to within taijutsu range, Sasuke maneuvered himself so that Naruto was coming at him directly from his left side. He saw the blond coming in for a low, sliding kick to try to take out his legs, while Hinata prepared to bring a Jyuuken to his chest.

Perfect, he thought.

Watching the incoming Jyuuken attack with the Sharingan, he took in every aspect of it; how much chakra was used in it, where, exactly, in his body that that it was aimed, and how that chakra was set up to be shot directly into the inner systems. The red eyes analyzed the whole technique in a split second. Smiling, Sasuke twisted off his feet and into the air, causing the Jyuuken to pass just over him. He felt the immense power of it graze the skin of his chest and face, tingling painfully.

Then, without warning, he twisted in mid-leap, facing downward at Naruto, who was sliding under him with a look of surprise on his face. As the blond's abdomen passed beneath his right hand, the image of the Hyuuga girl's attack flashed in his head. He brought his own palm down hard on Naruto's chest, delivering a bolt of black chakra into his lungs.

Naruto's slide turned into a tumble as he lost his coordination, and when he skidded to a stop, he was barely able to get onto one knee as he hacked up bright red blood.

Hinata regarded Sasuke with awe and horror. The Uchiha had used the Sharingan to copy the Jyuuken.

Sasuke was far from triumphant, though. He was perturbed. That shot should have killed him, he thought. I copied it perfectly—angle, targeting, power, flow... everything. But he's still alive, where I would probably be dead.

He watched as Naruto tried to get up, and then was forced to return to his knees as another spasm convulsed him. Well, at least he seems to be out of commission for a while. I can take out this Hyuuga now, and finish him after.

Turning to the stunned Hinata and forming a blackened Chidori in his hand, he said, "Well, I suppose it's just you and me now. Shall we end it quickly?"

Hinata showed no fear. She relaxed back into her Jyuuken stance and regarded him coldly.

"You may have tricked us once," she said, "But Naruto-kun hasn't given up, and neither will I! I'll fight you as long as I have to!"

Sasuke frowned. "Suit yourself." Yet, even as he came rushing at her, he knew something was wrong. The lighting in his hand seemed duller and lesser than it should have been, though he was imbuing it with the same amount of chakra.

He came at full speed, but Hinata's speed, enhanced by the Synchronization, was sufficient to both duck under the initial strike, prodding at his arm to alter its course, and dodge the back-handed afterswipe that followed it. It nicked her arm as she leaped off to the side, but it did not severely injure her at all.

Even that grazing blow should have cut clean to the bone, but she only got a tiny cut from it?

Suddenly, the Chidori in his hand began to flicker weakly. What's going on? I'm feeding the normal amount of chakra into it, but it's fading...

Then it dawned on him. Those times when she was deflecting my attacks... He recalled the brief taijutsu exchange that the two of them had before Naruto had fallen victim to the copied Jyuuken. Hinata had been lightly pushing away his blows with her hands, using just enough force to keep him from striking her and no more. Often, she would use only one or two fingers...

"You did something to my arms," Sasuke accused. "My chakra doesn't run as strongly through them anymore. That's why Naruto didn't die, and why my Chidori lost its power."

From off to his side, he heard Naruto chuckling. The blond had finally managed to stand up again.

"If you had watched any Hyuuga fight before," Naruto said, "You'd know about that already. Hinata's defense wasn't just about knocking your punches away; it was about pressing your tenketsus and reducing your chakra flow. Didn't Orochimaru tell you about that? Or were you too wrapped up in your brother to take any interest?"

Sasuke grit his teeth. It was true; he had never watched a Hyuuga in combat, and he had never thought that he would need to. And now, most of his techniques were so reduced in power as to be useless, and he had been using his cursed seal for far longer than was healthy; it was beginning to pain him. He saw that he would never beat them both at this point, at least not before Konoha's rescue teams arrived. Anger consumed him.

Naruto stayed on his feet, but he wasn't done coughing. As his fresh spasm consumed him, Sasuke made his last ditch effort.

"Your girl defeated me, Naruto," he said, "But I won't be dying alone!"

His scream was punctuated in flame. From out of his open mouth shot a long, serpentine tongue of flame, which snaked towards Naruto's vulnerable body faster than either the injured Naruto or the distant Hinata could react. It curled around Naruto's convulsing throat and snapped tight.

Naruto's cough turned into a howl of agony as the python-like blaze simultaneously squeezed and burned his neck. Sasuke put nearly all of his waning power into it, seeking to end the blond's life as quickly as possible, before his own body collapsed from the pain of the self-damaging cursed seal and its injuries.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata yelled. She not only witnessed Naruto's terrible pain, but felt it for herself. With a vengeful cry, she rushed to put an end to it.

The beaten Sasuke would not be denied Naruto's death, however. Though chakra flow to his arms had been cut, his legs worked just fine. He poured lightning into his feet and repelled the charging Hyuuga with a spinning double-kick, the Chidori Nagashi lashing out and stinging her with full force—one foot in the abdomen, the other in her arm. She flew backwards, and Naruto's torment continued.

Naruto was rapidly losing his strength. Sasuke was sparing nothing to make sure that he died. There was no way that he could break free. He felt the impact of Sasuke's feet on Hinata's body, and felt her own strength start to fade. A twinge of guilt filled his heart—he had vowed to win for her sake and everyone else's, and now they were both going to fail. All his fault, and nothing he could do! Naruto quailed beneath the burning snake-tongue, despairing the loss that he was suffering. He wished that the Synch technique would gift him with telepathy, so that he could apologize to her...

The Synch! There was something he could do, he realized. He wrestled his oxygen-starved brain back into focus, and applied his will across the strands of the Reiude. As Sasuke concentrated his remaining power on Naruto, Naruto concentrated his upon Hinata, flooding her injured system with power. He felt her strength return to her.

There, Hinata, he thought as his consciousness fled him, You live. Kick his sorry ass for me...

Sasuke saw Naruto go limp, and squeezed harder, making certain that he would not wake up again. All his will was upon the unconscious blond; he knew he was not going to come out of this alive, and no longer cared, so long as he took another to hell with him.

Then, for a moment, his concentration was broken as pain wracked his body as the cursed seal that was enabling him to destroy his best friend also eroded his own body. It was in this moment that Hinata struck.

"Hakke Rokujuuyon Sho!"

Sasuke, reeling in pain from his self-erosion, had no defense. In seconds, Hinata's flying fingers shut down all of his chakra. The tongue of flame around Naruto's neck fizzled out of existence, and the Uchiha avenger fell onto his face. As he hit the ground, the cursed seal withdrew from his wretched form, unable to feed any more power or pain to its victim. Oozing blood from the slashes on his back and from the spiral wound in his side, burned internally by his own black power, and unable to channel any chakra at all, Sasuke's mind went black.

Hinata was the only one still standing. Clutching her Chidori-blasted stomach and left arm, she stepped over the unmoving form of her fallen opponent, and walked, wobbling slightly, to join the fallen blond. Reaching him, she knelt by his side and inspected his wracked body.

Naruto was in bad shape. This day had been one of the most draining of his life; in less than twenty-four hours, he had taken the Caged Bird seal, escaped a horde of angry Hyuuga, fought off a member of the dreaded Akatsuki organization, and battled to the death with his long-lost friend and rival. His chakra was almost entirely depleted, his body was covered in cuts and bruises and scrapes, and his neck was badly burned.

But Hinata put her good hand over his chest, and felt a pulse. It was strong, triumphantly pounding after surviving its brush with death. The Hyuuga smiled. She certainly had picked a stubborn man.

"'Until I bring Sasuke back, I can never die,' you said," she murmured. "Naruto-kun, you kept your promise, like you always do. One more reason..."

She stroked his head tenderly, running her bloody hand through his filthy blond hair. "One more reason why I love you."

In her mind, she felt a pang of regret. She had never said those words when he was awake. The glorious days when Naruto had been her bodyguard came back to her. Not once had she been able to express her long-buried feelings to him. If her natural shyness hadn't been stopping her, then fear of her Clan discovering her had.

Hinata regarded Naruto sleeping peacefully before her. "Tonight, though," she said, "I took a step forward. When all of this is over, Naruto-kun, I will take another. I promise you that, and like you, I keep my promises. After all that you have done for me, you deserve nothing less."

She sat with him for two minutes that stretched into two millenniums.

Then, as the moon set and the first glimmers of day began to lighten the eastern horizon, she heard voices.

"Naruto!"

"Naruto-kun! Hinata-san!"

Hatake Kakashi and Rock Lee emerged from the forest. Hinata breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hinata-san, you're alive! Neji and your sister will be pleased," said Lee.

"Thank you, Lee-kun," Hinata said.

Kakashi fixed Hinata in his one-eyed gaze. "And the other two?" he asked her.

"They are both alive," Hinata told him.

Kakashi nodded. "Good. Lee, you go back the way we came. Find the medical team, and bring them here. I'll keep watch here."

Lee straightened. With a salute and a wink at Hinata, he said, "Hai, Kakashi-sensei!" and was gone.

Kakashi watched him go, then sighed, turning his gaze to the two unconscious boys.

"Thank you," he whispered to no one, "For letting me see them both again."

Hinata heard him mumbling.

"Did you say something, Kakashi-sensei?" she asked.

"Nothing," Kakashi said, turning his eye east.

Together, he and Hinata warded the exhausted combatants and watched the sun come up. The night of blood was over, the day of judgment imminent. Behind them lay pain, ahead of them uncertainty. For now, though, each of them could only rest their aching bodies and give silent thanks to whatever gods they believed in that they and their loved were alive.

To think of anything else was too tiresome on already-weary souls.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO End Chapter Twenty-Seven OoOoOoOoOoOoO

A/N: That was unbelievably hard to write. I was up until six in the morning finishing the thing. And I'm incredibly nervous about your reactions to it. Some of you will undoubtedly hate me or lose interest because one person or the other did not die, or at least did not appear to die. Others might think the ending to this chapter was weak. If so, I blame it on the poor effectiveness of my energy drink.

I await reviews with my fingers crossed. Please don't kill me, please don't kill me...