3


Please don't die. I'm sorry, Naruto! I'm so sorry.

Those were the thoughts going through Sakura's head as she sped through the trees with Tsunade, Kakashi, Gai, Yamato, the other Konoha 12 and three other ANBU squads.

Once the seal in the office had worn off, they had all moved at once. Tsunade had immediately mobilized ANBU to search every nook and cranny of Konoha for her favourite blond. But no one had found anything. That's when Sakura had barged in while carrying a barely conscious Konohamaru. Everyone in the room had been surprised at the amount of killing intent leaking off of the little Genin.

Once he had relayed his story and Naruto's plans, they were sprinting through the woods without a second thought. Konohamaru had to be knocked unconscious to prevent him from coming along.

"I can see a bunch of broken branches in the distance!" shouted Neji from the front of the squad. "He probably fell from exhaustion."

"Naruto? Exhausted? Are we talking about the same guy here?" asked Chouji to lighten the mood a bit. It didn't work.

Within minutes they arrived at a clearing in the woods. It looked as if someone had crashed through the trees and slid across the place. Blood was splattered, trees were broken, and burn marks were everywhere.

"What the hell…" Kiba whispered.

"There was a battle," Shikamaru stated the obvious. "Most likely between Naruto and a very skilled fire user… could be Itachi."

"N-No…" said Sakura as her eyes went wide.

"I found a blood trail!" Kiba shouted from a distance and everyone rushed towards his position. "The blood is Naruto's but that's not the only scent here."

"L-Let's follow it!" Sakura shouted and got ready to bolt but was held back by Kakashi.

"Hold it," he said calmly. We don't know who our opponent could be…"

"It doesn't matter!" Sakura screamed at him. "Naruto could be in trouble! We have to help him!"

"AND GOING TOWARDS HIM BLINDLY WILL JUST GET US KILLED TOO!" Kakashi screamed back at her. "I'm also worried, alright? I also want to do everything I can to help him but if he really is battling someone on the calibre of Itachi Uchiha then we'll just be getting in his way."

Everyone was silent, going over options in their head but before anyone could say anything, a gasp from Kiba caught their attention.

"What is it?" asked Shikamaru.

"T-This scent… It's not Itachi. It's Sasuke!" Kiba said with wide eyes. A low growl escaped from Akamaru's throat as he heard the name of the traitor.

"Well… shit. What do we do now, Hokage-sama?" Kakashi asked as he looked towards Tsunade.

Tsunade was silent for a moment before she finally nodded to herself. "Follow the trail," she ordered solemnly while praying for Naruto's safety.

(A/N: I suck at writing fights so visualize that on your own.)

Naruto stood on the branch of the tree, leaning against the trunk, clutching his badly wounded abdomen. Likewise, Sasuke stood on the ground a bit farther away, also leaning against the trunk of the tree. He was missing an arm and an eye. Both young men glared at each other.

"You're stronger than I thought you'd be. I definitely underestimated you. Either way, it doesn't matter. I'll kill you today," Sasuke said arrogantly as purple chakra started rolling off of him.

Naruto instantly created five shadow clones. Three ran backwards, going to a safe place to gather Nature Chakra. Two ran sideways, taking out paper, a brush, and a bottle of ink from their pouch. The real Naruto pulled a kunai from his pouch with his free hand and rushed forwards, towards the Uchiha.

A purple ribcage formed around Sasuke as Naruto ran towards him. He smirked arrogantly and stood there, confident that the kunai couldn't even scratch the Susanoo armour. Naruto saw this and pulled another kunai with his other hand. The huge wound on his torso opened up and started bleeding once again. Immense pain flooded Naruto's body, but the blond ignored it and kept pushing. He coated both kunai in wind chakra and threw them so that they would fly from both sides of Sasuke.

The Uchiha predicted the path of the kunai with his single Sharingan and smirked wider as he thought Naruto was using the last of his strength.

As soon as the kunai left his hands, one of the shadow clones popped, transferring all the Nature Chakra to Naruto and entering him into Sage Mode. He put a hand out and hastily formed a small but power Rasenshuriken and threw it, dead straight at Sasuke.

The Uchiha, knowing that the flying ball of chakra could and would cause real damage, dodged it and moved directly into the path of the kunai, thinking that he'd be safe since simple kunai couldn't possibly penetrate his Susanoo armour. Unfortunately for Sasuke, these weren't simple kunai.

The Rasenshuriken flew by harmless and just as Sasuke was about to make a snarky remark, a sharp pain in his torso stopped him. He looked down and saw a gaping hole, the size of a fist on the left size of his chest.

"Now you know how it feels to get something shoved through your chest," said Naruto emotionlessly as he slowly advanced towards Sasuke.

"St-Stay back, dobe!" Sasuke screamed as all the energy left his body. He fell on his back and tried uselessly to crawl away. "Fuck!"

"I'll kill you here, Sasuke. Then I'll kill myself. How does that sound, huh?" Naruto grinned like a maniac.

"Wha-," Sasuke choked as the killing intent the Naruto exuded made it hard to breathe.

"NARUTO!" came a scream from behind, stopping Naruto in his tracks. That voice… Sakura?

Said blond turned around to see a ton of ANBU and all his 'friends' come out of the trees.

"Sakura? Baa-chan? Sensei? What… What the hell? How'd did you catch up to me so quickly?" Naruto said with wide eyes as he slowly inched backwards. He was on the brink of chakra exhaustion. If there was a fight right now, he'd lose. No doubt about it.

"Naruto," this time it was Tsunade who spoke. "I'm sorry."

"Huh?" Why is she apologizing? Thought Naruto.

"Please allow me to explain. No one suspected you of anything. We just wanted to conduct a sting operation and use you as bait. I'm really sorry for this Naruto, but just please hear us out, will you?" Tsunade spoke as she held back tears. The moment she had seen his face she could tell that it was the face of someone who had resigned themselves to their fate. It wasn't an expression that belonged on his face. She had to bring him back no matter what.

"It's too late, Baa-chan," Naruto said solemnly. "I'm also sorry, but… this has to be done."

Before he could take any actions, Tsunade spoke again. "Yes, I get it. And that's fine, but please just listen first. Then you can do anything you want," she tried and failed to not sound desperate.

A moment of silence passed as Naruto contemplated his decision. Finally, he answered with a small nod. "Alright."

Tsunade sighed in relief. "Thank you. Sakura, please go check on the Uchiha," the Hokage ordered.

"Hai, Shishou," Sakura said and walked over to where the Uchiha lay barely conscious. She knelt down beside him and started healing the wound on his chest. "Sasuke-kun?" she spoke through gritted teeth.

"What?" Sasuke replied in his usual arrogant way.

"When you and Naruto were young, and you fought at the Valley of the End, who won?" she asked.

The rest of the audience listened quietly to the exchange between the two former teammates. Naruto held a grim look on his face as he also listened.

"I did, of course," Sasuke said and chuckled despite the pain.

"And you put two Chidoris through his chest?" Sakura asked the final question.

"Yeah, I did. I only regret not killing him at that time," Sasuke said as he glared at the blond.

"I see," Sakura's reply was barely audible, but what followed was the loudest and the goriest scene anyone had seen.

Sasuke screamed out in agony as his body thrashed around. Sakura held him down using one arm and put her other hand on his head. "SAKURA, NO!" Tsunade shouted a bit too late. Immediately, Sasuke's head exploded in a shower of blood.