2. The beast you've made of me
Naruto was alone.
He had been separated from his team by a surprise attack, and had been flung far away with a huge gust of wind deep into the forest. It was hard for him to ignore the startling similarity to the situation of the time of the Chunin Exam and the Forest of Death, but he supressed the thought - and surfacing memories - as quickly as it came, focusing on finding his way back to his teammates.
The sharp whistle of a kunai through the air alerted him to a hostile presence. A slight shift of his shoulders let the weapon fly past him harmlessly, but he felt the chill of cold steel against his throat not one moment later. "Still the useless dobe, eh Naruto?" The detached voice behind him held the barest hints of dry amusement, as if he had already expected such and was pleased to find himself right. Naruto could never forget that voice, but the unexpectedly cold words only served to anger the blond. A quick elbow jab had himself free from the Uchiha's clutches, and he spun around just in time to block the downwards slash from Sasuke's katana with two hastily pulled out kunai.
Sasuke smirked. His sword had Naruto's two hands occupied with blocking it, while he still had one hand free. The chirping noise of electricity gathering in his hand met Naruto's ears, but he was helpless to stop it as the attack hit his upper body. Only a sudden jerk back saved his organs from being pulverized by the chidori, earning him a shallow gash down his right arm. The Uchiha watched with something almost akin to disinterest in his eyes as the blond fell to the ground, coughing up globs of blood. He scoffed, sheathing his blade, and gathered chakra to his feet to prepare for a leap for the trees. An unexpected tackle knocked him to the ground, while a 'poof' told him that the kunai through the stomach effectively 'killed' the shadow clone. He should've known that the blond would still have some cheap trick up his sleeve.
He twisted his head around and looked back, coal black eyes narrowed in annoyance. Naruto was slowly getting back up on his feet, despite the gaping hole in his chest, with a forced grin on his face. Sasuke wondered briefly if the blond knew that his pain was evident in the knotted brows.
"Get back here, teme! I'm not done yet!" He yelled.
Obviously not.
With a simple hand sign, another shadow clone was created into existence beside the blond. Between the two, a swirling ball of blue gathered in the original Naruto's hand, and with a loud battle cry the blond launched himself at Sasuke, chakra sphere leading the way. Naruto realized that he had grossly underestimated Sasuke's speed as the brunette flickered out of view, and a sharp pain blossomed in his gut.
The brunette snorted as his blade slid out of Naruto's stomach with a wet 'plop'. "What a disappointment. You never change, Naruto. Still weak as ever." A condescending sneer was thrown Naruto's way as he leapt away from the scene, leaving the blond to die on the forest floor, cold, betrayed, and utterly alone.
He didn't know how long he laid there, but he felt like it was eternity before the pain from his gut and the hole in his chest strangely receded, replaced by a light tingling feeling throughout his body, and it felt kind of soothing. It was almost as if his wounds were healing by itself, knitting flesh and tendon back together... until the tingling turned into a slight burn, which turned into a full-out raging inferno sweeping through his veins. Healed wounds? Felt like they were ripped right back open. Fucking hurt like a bitch too, in Naruto's opinion. To tell the truth, Naruto thought that the whole afternoon - was it only a few hours since his team had left out for the mission? - was like a dream, and that was downright terrifying, that your life could change so drastically in a matter of months, days, hours, minutes, seconds.
As he lay bleeding to death on the ground, unable to do more than twitch in agony, one thought kept circling in Naruto's mind. During the battle - if it could even be called that, a battle - not once had Sasuke's Sharingan been activated. And that spoke volumes about his skill level compared to the other.
And that look on Sasuke's face; it was as if he wasn't even worth the dirt on the bottom of his shoes. That look struck fear into his heart, and was permanently engraved in Naruto's mind. It was as if he was some child's toy, effortlessly holding all of a child's attention when it was brand new, and just as easily discarded when something better and newer comes around. For a moment, Naruto actually wanted to kill Sasuke for being better, being perfect, for having everything he could ever want from life - the tragic survivor of a terrible accident, a boy with the money, the looks, the intelligence, and the strength - and throwing it all away for revenge. Doesn't he know how much it hurts the people who care about him when he stabs them behind their backs and spits on everything they believe in? Naruto was tempted to learn the chidori and stab Sasuke a few times, just to show him how much pain he caused.
The horrible, bitter taste of hate and resentment bubbled up his throat. And though Naruto knew he would never act on his bloodthirsty instincts to hurt the Uchiha - unless it was for his own good - the betrayal of his friend, no matter how insignificant a thought may seem, was what scared him the most.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed. Next chapter is in the process of being written.