Naruto licked his lips seeing the anxiousness building in Sasuke. He loved it, the way the emotions played over the stoic Uchiha's face. Four years and Sasuke still wasn't able to clear his face from emotion when it came to Naruto. The consistency was oddly comforting.
Naruto launched himself with incredible speed. Sasuke activated his Sharingan, but even with that he was barely able to follow the movement, leaving him no choice but to stumble back in a flinch.
Sasuke was able to block, but felt like that was more luck than skill and it terrified him. Naruto was so close in front him, the right leg stretched straight in between Sasuke's, left crouched underneath him. His right hand was extended, the sharp nails pointing at Sasuke's heart and would have hit the mark if Sasuke hadn't raised his arm in defence. Naruto kept his left hand close to his side, but Sasuke saw he kept it in a similar position to be able to use his nails as daggers, ready to strike.
"Wow, you blocked it! I've been waiting for a good toy for sooo long! I'm gonna take my time with you, Raven-sama." Naruto purred and continued to grin up at Sasuke. It took all Sasuke had not to shiver underneath the penetrating gaze and he had to fight the urge to look away. To steel himself, he pushed more chakra into his Sharingan, making it flare for a moment.
He jumped back again, hoping to gain distance and time to collect himself, but Naruto matched his movement and speed with ease. Naruto stayed low and the way he moved was unlike any fighting method Sasuke had ever seen. It reminded Sasuke of a wild animal playing with a prey, chasing it, but not quite catching it while still making it painfully clear the prey had no way of escaping. Naruto didn't attack, he just followed Sasuke's movement, cutting him off from going certain directions and kiting him around. He had no doubt Naruto was truly just playing with him, but that didn't mean he was going to just give up. For now, he was using his Sharingan to get a read on Naruto's movement.
Sasuke heard mumbling around him from the spectators. Most sounded impressed about Naruto's movement, but he also caught the occasional sneer at his own capabilities. Was Naruto kiting him within ear shot on purpose? He could not image the chaotic brain of Naruto to be able to think about the mental aspect of the battle. Not that Sasuke cared much about the opinion of others, but when he heard his own teams comments, he felt anger rise inside him. "Why is Taicho going easy on him?" "Maybe they are friends?" They were questioning his intentions to be anything but serious! A new determination settled into Sasuke. He was going to push back. He needed to anyway, because he couldn't avoid forever.
"Hn." Sasuke stopped his movement, not even raising his hands up in defence. He just stood his grounds and would let happen whatever came. His stop was sudden, but still, Naruto matched him in even that. It would have been funny. Well, not funny, but... entertaining? To have had Naruto crash into him, but the blond didn't, so it wasn't. Instead, Naruto stopped so close to him they were almost touching. Naruto stood, halve crouched to still keep himself low, frozen in his forward motion as if Sasuke stopping had been a planned moment from the very beginning. Naruto looked up at him with a cocked head and a grin. In a split second, the grin changed to a smirk and Naruto finished him movement upwards, straightening his legs and pushing himself even closer to Sasuke.
At the sidelines Morino gulped, drawing the attention of Kakashi and Sarutobi to him. "You know, there is only one thing more scary than a grinning Naruto, and that is a smirking one..." Morino looked at Sarutobi with a worried expression. "Hokage-sama, did you tell Naruto he isn't allowed to kill?"
"No, this is only a spar. He knows that. Right?" Sarutobi said, but he questioned his own words at seeing Morino's expression.
"We'll step in when it's necessary." Kakashi said, his eyes back on the fight, ready to intervene when necessary. Seeing their Kage on edge also prompted most ANBU to be more wary was well.
Sasuke saw the headbutt aimed at his face coming but stupidly he had left no other option for himself then to step back. He knew he wasn't fast enough to avoid it nor did he leave room to use his arms to block so he closed his eyes in preparation of the hit connecting, but instead of pain a different sensation landed on his face. Soft and moist, almost gentle, a light pressure on his lips. He opened his eyes to find himself eye to eye with Naruto, who had placed his lips firmly on his. Before he could really process what the hell just happened, Naruto broke the kiss, mumbled something like 'sweet' and jumped away, giggling like a mess and clamping one hand over his mouth to stifle the giggles. His eyes never left Sasuke's. They were shining with playfulness, but they were terrifying at the same time.
Sasuke just stared after him, confused and thrown off. His lips were tingling from the short contact and for some reason his breath was a little too heavy and his heart was beating a little too fast. Sasuke fought the urge to touch his lips, and instead wiped his mouth with his arm in an attempt to shake the tingling sensation. He watched Naruto skip away a little distance, still giggling and throwing glances back at Sasuke. Sasuke couldn't make out what kind of emotions Naruto was going though, but utter glee seemed be a good way to describe it.
Sasuke snapped out of his momentary bewilderment and ran at Naruto. Naruto dropped back in his stance and waited for Sasuke to reach him. He had kissed Sasuke on impulse, but then again, what didn't he do on impulse, really? It had left a sweet taste behind, better than anything he had tasted before, and a want for more. He wanted to taste more of Sasuke. If his lips were this sweet, then what would his skin taste like, or his blood? Did that sweetness run down into Sasuke's very core? The thought alone was enough to spring forth another fit of giggles, but this one was short lived as Sasuke's knee connected to his arm as Naruto blocked a kick to his side. There was a lot of strength behind the kick, pushing Naruto back a little. It hurt. Maybe even left a bruise, but that didn't matter. His toy pushed back. He got a response beyond fear and surrender. It wasn't a one-sided thing like with most toys. This was so, so much better. Exhilarating.
With ease he turned the momentum back on Sasuke, sending jabs upwards from his low position through the openings in Sasuke's defence. There were very few Shinobi trained to guard against attacks from below them. Not to mention that having to look down meant less awareness of the area around them, since their field of vision would be focussed towards the ground. It created a false sense of vulnerability that Naruto took full advantage off. Still, Sasuke hit him as much as Naruto jabbed at him, both of them switching from defense to offence seemlessly within one motion as they continued to fight.
Naruto smirked when he was the one to draw first blood. His nails cut through the fabric of Sasuke's clothing like a knife through butter, obscuring his nails from view, but the warm feeling of liquid running down his fingers and the wince from above him told him enough. He pulled back his hand, revealing dripping red fingers. Just looking at the blood made him shake a little. It was beautiful. Blood shimmering in the daylight was the best there was. After years of darkness, this seemed to shine more bright than anything before. He held his hand up, fingers spread with the sunlight filtering through them. "Beautiful..." He whispered. Naruto placed his hand on his cheek, just underneath the corner of his eye and dragged his hand downwards. He dragged his ring finger into his mouth, tasting the blood as he looked straight in Sasuke's eyes. The taste of metal danced in his tongue and he savored the familiar taste like a sweet memory. Somewhere deep in his mind he felt a shift, and he guessed it was showing on his face as well, because Sasuke's expression changed from disgusted to complete and utter fear. Death danced in those eyes. The somehow gentle happiness from before replaced with pure malice, his eyes shimmering red as blood.
"I want more..." Naruto growled, shifting his body to face Sasuke's head on. No holding back anymore. He wanted to draw more blood. He wanted to see more red. And right now, he needed it to be Sasuke's. Naruto jabbed and slashed, slowly but surely cutting more and more shallow wounds into Sasuke's skin. There wasn't an attack that didn't draw blood and because Naruto flourished each of his moves, the blood was splattered around the area and on Naruto with each move. Sasuke couldn't help but admire the gracefulness in the movement as he was slowly but surely overwhelmed. It was smooth and faultless, like a dance.
The new determination in Naruto's movement placed Sasuke back into defence only, but it didn't help. The cuts became deeper and deeper as the fight dragged on and fatigue came into play. Something Naruto didn't seem to feel. His movements didn't gain any flaws and didn't slow down at all. There was no defence for Sasuke and soon he found himself only shielding his face as Naruto worked him onto his back with a swipe of his leg. His back hitting the hard ground took his breath away. Naruto stood over him breathing heavily and splattered with Sasuke's blood. There was a weird, uncontrolled spasm in Naruto's hand, like he was having trouble keeping his hand stretched or keeping control over his movements. Even his breathing was unsteady, like he was trying to control a laugh with the way his breath left him in short bursts. Both his eyes were slithed and his teeth seemed even longer. He was absolutely wild.
When Naruto's hand came down, Sasuke was convinced he was going to die. He threw his arms in front of his face in defence once again, but he knew that wasn't going to be enough. "NO KILLING!" Morino's shout came from the sidelines, but Sasuke could only watch when Naruto made no effort to stop his descending attack. Instead, the pointed hand changed into closed fist and came crashing down with even more conviction and strength behind it.
The sound of the hit connecting ran through the clearing and it was deafening. It threw up enough dust to obscure the sparring duo from view, leaving the spectators in a tense silence, waiting for the outcome that seemed inevitable. When the dust settled again, the spectators saw Naruto's fist dug into the ground just millimeters away from Sasuke's face, Morino standing behind Naruto, holding Naruto back by his collar, and Kakashi blocking Sasuke's face with one arm as much as Sasuke himself was doing and Kakashi held a kunai to Naruto's neck with his other hand.
The kunai was dug into Naruto's neck at least a few centimeters, but he Naruto didn't seem to notice. He was shaking violently, still staring down at Sasuke. "I want more. Sasuke-kun, give me more. I will kill you, right, Sasuke-kun? Only me. Promise me. Promise me you will only die by my hand!" The words were steady and deliberate, demanding. Naruto was wide-eyed, straining against Kakashi and Morino, but only to be able to keep looking at Sasuke. Sasuke didn't respond, too shaken by his near death experience to speak. The memory of Naruto promising a painless death all those years back ran through his mind, making him feel even more incapable then he already did. All he did was just stare at Naruto.
Kakashi strained his hand, pushing a little more on the kunai and drawing more blood. The pressure on his throat made Naruto cough, finally pulling his attention away from Sasuke when his own blood coated his mouth. Instead of flinching away from the sharp pain of the metal burried in his throat, Naruto laughed and leaned into it, his eyes wild and unfocussed. It seemed like he wanted the kunai to cut through his throat. Kakashi quickly repositioned the kunai in order to prevent further damage, surprised at the sudden action from Naruto, but still guarding Sasuke.
Morino pulled Naruto back against his chest and took a few steps back, hugging him with one arm, equally surprised. Morino was relieved the Uchiha hadn't received a fatal blow, but all of them knew that Sasuke's defence would have failed, Kakashi had been too late to block it and Morino was nowhere near holding Naruto back far enough to prevent him from landing his blow. The fact that Sasuke's face wasn't a crater like the ground beside him was entirely Naruto's doing. Naruto missed the hit on purpose. Whether he had missed because Morino had shouted, or because he never intended to land the fatal blow to begin with remained to be seen.
Right now, Morino needed Naruto to get a grip on himself. The boy was laughing like a maniac, shaking uncontrollably and breathing hard. He struggled without strength in Morino's arm, and his focus kept being drawn back to Sasuke. "Good boy, well done." Morino mumbled to Naruto like he did when Naruto had helped him around the department. Just like that the maniacal laughter and frenzy Naruto had been in melted away and he relaxed against Morino, leaning into Morino heavily. "Thanks, Papa." Naruto said back. He sounded tired and a little defeated, making Morino wonder if Naruto thanked him for the compliment or for something else.
Sakura and Tsunade rushed over and immediately started to check over Sasuke while throwing glances at Naruto, who still stood leaning against Morino. Non of the medics even thought about tending the gaping cut in Naruto's neck, but it had already started to heal anyway so it didn't matter.
Naruto had his eyes closed and a smile on his face. It seemed like he had found some kind of heavenly peace and was now revelling in it. He brought his bloodied fingers to his mouth again, sniffing at them and licking them in pure bliss. Nobody stopped him, not daring to disrupt the sudden peacefulness of the blond. Several ANBU and Kakashi did position themselves around him to keep him from attacking Sasuke again should he decide to do that.
Minutes dragged on and Tsunade and Sakura were still tending to Sasuke. Naruto's hands were clean at this point and Morino had let go of his hold on him. There was an air of calmness around Naruto, a stark contrast to just a few minutes ago. "Ne, Morino-san. Sasuke is strong, isn't he?" He asked with admiration in his voice.
Morino looked at Naruto before looking back at Sasuke. "Hm? Yes, he is."
"Stronger than Papa?"
"Most likely."
"Amazing. That's amazing!" Morino looked at Naruto again to find that Naruto was sincere. He had a serious look on his face that was peaceful at the same time. Morino gave him a smile.
"Ne, Morino-san."
"What is it, Naruto?"
"Am I stronger than Sasuke?"
"I don't know. This was just taijutsi, after all. I don't know his ability in ninjustu." Morino placed his hand on Naruto's head and ruffled his hair a little.
"I see... I understand. Ne, Morino-san, could it be..." He looked up at Morino, a guilty smile on his lips. "That I went a little overboard just now?" He said as he pointed at Sasuke, who was slowly being helped to sit up.
Morino chuckled. "Yes, I think you did, but what else would be expected? You did your best and gave it your all. I'm sure Sasuke did the same."
"I see, good. That's good. He's my first toy to play back, so I don't want to break him accidentally." Naruto grinned. He stepped away from Morino and then disappeared from sight. The ANBU jumped up in attention and Kakashi carefully scanned the environment, but they didn't see him. He reappeared in front of Sasuke, who was still seated on the ground. Naruto crouched down and smiled a toothy smile with his eyes closed. "I'm sorry, Sasuke. I played to roughly!" He said sounding childish. He opened his eyes and held out his hand, waiting for Sasuke to grab hold. After a second of doubt, Sasuke did and Naruto pulled him to his feet.
"It's okay, I'm fine." Sasuke said, looking away.
Naruto walked away a few steps, his hands searching his neck for the collar that was no longer there. He turned around to face Sasuke again. "Don't worry, Sasuke-kun. I remember our first promise too!"