AN: I don't like this chapter… But whatever. This is sort of huge for me people. This is the VERY FIRST STORY I HAVE EVER COMPLETED IN MY LIFETIME! Yes, really. And while I am dissatisfied with the quality, I am glad it was this one. It holds a lot of memories, inspirations for writing this and producing an actual hope that I could one day be a good author. So enjoy this chapter, burritos and sorry for the amount of time it took me to finish this! I will plan better with other stories…
Inspiration: The fact that I will finish a story for the first time ever
Dedication: My friends, even though they may not read this, I hope you guys know that even though things suck right now, I'm still your friend. And EmeraldOwl needs to stop kicking my shin cuz she IS THE BLACK SHEEP OF EUROPE HAHAHAHA AND SHORT AND HER COOKNG ISNT GOOD AND *rants on about stuff that will get me killed if she sees this*
Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, I wouldn't scream when SasukeAlpha tells me what happens in the latest manga chapter because I don't want to hear spoilers
Naruto's eyes widened as he saw a thin purple layer of liquid coated on the kunai. He knew that he was just this close to having that knife split the skin in his throat, both poisoning and splitting his jugular vein. Naruto's eyes focused unintentionally at the glistening sharp edge. He was trapped and he knew it. He wouldn't have enough chakra to stand if the puppet trapping him wasn't holding him up as well.
"…bastard…" He managed to weakly spit out.
Naruto glanced at Kakashi, horrified to see that he was in a similar position. Kakashi raised a hand, signaling for Sakura to stay back, but the bomber smacked his hand down.
"We know the little bitch is there, un" he said.
Naruto's eyes filled with horror. If they died here, both Sakura and Sasuke would be killed as well.
This really was the end. Naruto squeezed his eyes shut, as Kakashi looked down in defeat.
"Now, brat."
The pressure against Naruto's throat left. The knife did not take his life. There was no paralyzing agony of poison affecting his body. None of that was there. None of that happened. The end was on pause, not yet here. Just a soft thud against the dirt as the wooden weapon that was trapping him disappeared, and he could hear the noise it made as it was sent back to its scroll.
A long silence followed before the blue eyed jinchuriki got past the initial shock of not dying and took in the world again.
The two attackers where leaving, in such a leisurely manner it was infuriating. But even Naruto knew that their smugness was not unreasonable. Team 7 had been defeated, they should be dead, and there was nothing they could do about it. That much, at least, was completely evident
So why, why hadn't they been killed on the spot? They should be dead by now! Somehow, his question was answered, and by the people who were caused it in the first place, however that works.
"You're still weak for the Kyuubi's host… I'll be sure to tell leader-samma that pathetic piece of information. Don't worry, we'll be back, little jinchuriki"
Naruto could sense the intentions behind those words. Whoever they were, whatever they wanted he knew there was only one reason that he and his comrades where still alive. It wouldn't be entertaining to kill them off quite yet, would it?
But the time would come when they would have to face this menace and when that happened Naruto knew that there would be no more second chances, no pity, and no games. It would be a real battle, and he would have to be much stronger in order to have a sliver of a chance against their unnerving strength.
He may be an idiot sometimes, but the smug yet cold tone in the foe's threat was unmistakable.
Sasuke's POV
(AN: this is before they left, just as Sasuke gets poisoned)
Pain swirled around him, dulling all other senses. His body collapsed as the searing hot pain pushed its way through his veins like liquid fire, tearing at his body, causing excruciating agony.
Fire was the perfect word to describe the feeling. As he lay on the ground the spreading infection of this poison felt as if it was burning each of his cells with white-hot pain.
The raven-haired boy wanted to let screams rip through his body, to reflect the sheer torture that his body was going through. It wasn't pride that kept him from being able to do so, it was the immobilizing effect of the poison.
'Aghh! Make this stop, let me pass out oh kami… Urgh-' His thoughts came to a halt as his heart pumped the poison spreading it further.
He could hear the blurring sounds of a fight, but they were slowly fading.
Just as the black relief of unconsciousness was about to drag him under, he felt his body shift suddenly, and against his will let a small groan scratch its way out of his throat.
"Hang…there…-suke…be okay" The familiar voice reached his ears, however muddled it was. He didn't quite recognize the feminine voice, though he knew he should.
After being painfully jostled and set down somewhere hard, he could eventually feel the spread of the liquid fire slow. It didn't stop but it wasn't getting worse as fast as before. That little piece of relief was nice enough, however.
The boy felt a different sensation creep in; exhaustion. His body was shutting down his consciousness to help block out the severity of the pain. Hus mind couldn't take it, so it shut out the world full of red. He let himself slip into the comfort of unawareness.
Nothing.
*TIMESKIP*TIMESKIP*TIMESKIP*TIMESKIP*TIMESKIP*TIMESKIP*TIMESKIP*TIMESKIP*TIMESKIP*
Sasuke, though trying to fight it was shoved back into wakefulness. But there was no more of the agony that he was earlier experiencing, just a deep, throbbing ache, concentrated in his head. He felt uncomfortably warm, but not too much so. Light glared in his un-opened eyes.
He let out a murmur of noise, and shifted, slightly wincing as a jolt of pain shot through him. It faded though.
"Sasuke! Are you awake?!" Said an all too familiar obnoxious and overly loud voice.
Having a dobe shout was not helpful to his throbbing head, but it certainly killed the last possibility of him falling back asleep.
" 'Mh now thanks to you" The Uchiha said groggily, opening his eyes. They were in a small room, made of wood. He lay on a matt, and the room was illuminated by the afternoon sun. He scanned the simple room slowly, and looked up to his team mates.
"SASUKE! Don't do that, I was sure you were going to die, you scared us!" Sakura said. Her eyes where filled with tears, and she probably would have hugged him if he wasn't injured. She was so annoying…
Naruto looked anxious as he sat cross-legged on the floor. Kakashi seemed emotionless, but Sasuke was an Uchiha, and he could tell Kakashi had been worried as well.
"Tch, I'm still alive…" He said, mentally rolling his eyes. There was no need for everyone to start planning his funeral quite yet, how weak did they take him for? Then again he was the only one that got poisoned. He was going to amp up his training sessions as soon as they got back.
The return of Sasuke's attitude seemed to calm everyone a bit from their worrying.
The dark-eyed boy tried to push himself up, and with sheer will managed to get himself into a sitting position. His chakra levels were still low, not to mention he was recovering from almost- almost that is, dying by the hand of a poison master.
Speaking of which "What happened after I got hit?" he questioned. Everyone's spirits seemed to dampen with the question.
"They left." Kakashi stated. As usual, everyone got the feeling he knew a little more than he was saying. Sasuke was sure it had something to do with him, but wasn't sure how. The whole situation was so strange.
Whatever had really been going on, Sasuke was going to get stronger.
And maybe this time, it wouldn't only be for revenge.
Naruto POV
Naruto sat, if you could call it that. He was fidgeting so much out of anxiousness that it was hard to call what he was doing "sitting". The blonde had woken up in the bed* in the same small but cozy room after dropping from chakra depletion. He still wasn't back at full strength but a simple thing like that wouldn't stop the claimed-to-be future hokage from the norm of hyperness.
Although, it wasn't really normal hyperness. He wasn't full of energy, he was scared. He had about a million time 23 questions and not one of them were getting any answers.
'Who were those people who attacked us? Why did they leave? What's all that talk about their "boss?" Is Sasuke gonna die? Who else know about the Kyuubi? I don't get it!'
He wanted so badly to voice these thoughts, but he had a feeling that the other (conscious) members of Team 7 knew or would answer his inquiries. So he did his best at what he normally did when things were confusing-ignore it. But the buzzing thoughts wouldn't leave him alone.
Kakashi and Sakura were in the room as well, the Sensei reading his pervy-book and Sakura looking worriedly at her crush who was, unfortunately in Naruto's opinion, not him. Not that that discouraged him at all-
He was snapped out of his more positive chain of thoughts with a slight grunt from the once unconscious Uchiha.
"Sasuke! Are you awake?!" He shouted, perking up at the thought of having something happen, as it was sooo BORING waiting. And have the questions that were making his head hurt answered.
" 'mh now thanks to you" Said his rival, voice still dripping with sleepiness. His eyes where opened now, and though he still didn't look very healthy, he was better than the near-death state he was in when they had gotten to the village. Sasuke only had a chance of living because luckily, and very coincidentally, the antidote for the poison was most commonly made in that small town.
"SASUKE! Don't do that, I was sure you were going to die, you scared us!" a teary eyed Sakura exclaimed.
"Tch, I'm still alive…" The Uchiha replied. Naruto was somewhat comforted by the sense of normalcy that settled over the group.
Seconds passed by, and Sasuke seemed more awake. He slowly sat up, looking around the room, and, most likely, assessing the situation. He had what translated from Uchiha-face-language to confused.
"What happened after I got hit?" Sasuke inquired. Kakashi looked as if in thought for a moment, as if deciding what to say.
"They left." Kakashi gave a terse answer, and you could tell he was leaving something unsaid. He knew something more, that he was keeping to himself, or Naruto had that uneasy suspicion. Before he could question further, the old lady that was letting them stay there walked into the room.
Super Unnecessary POV change, to general (authors some say) POV
"I see this one's up! Good timing, I made food for you all!" The granny was quite generous, and Naruto liked her. She even made ramen especially for him, now that she figured out how much the young teen was near-obsessed with it.
She set down the food in front of each person, and received a chorus of 'Arigatos' from everyone. Immediately, Naruto dug in to his food. Meanwhile, Kakashi and Sakura ate in a more respectable manner. How Kakashi's mask on, the blond ninja had no idea, but it was. Sasuke meanwhile slowly picked at his food, eating just a bit. It was understandable, considering he was recovering from being poisoned, and, oh, near death.
The team ate in silence until each of them finished with the food. "That lady is nice, and her food is really good" Sakura said, starting some small talk.
Kakashi nodded, Sasuke grunted, and Naruto gave an energetic agreeing shout. Some things probably won't ever change, that being one of them.
The attempt at conversation faded quickly, and Naruto's mind returned to his questions. Trying to give a signal to someone, he glanced at Sasuke, a smidge of anxiety showing in his eyes. Both of the boys then glanced at their Sensei, who gave the smallest of nods.
"Sakura, could you prepare packs for the trip back to the village? We'll be heading back soon" Kakashi said to the kunoichi
"Huh? This early?" She said in understandable confusion.
"Hai, we're late heading back as it is." Sakura nodded, and walked out of the room, happy to help the group, albeit still wondering why they would leave so soon.
"Uh, Sensei…" Naruto trailed off, not really sure what to say, now that he had the chance to voice his unanswered questions. Luckily Kakashi figured what Naruto was going to ask.
"It's okay, Naruto, we are your comrades, you can trust us. I explained to Sasuke about you being the jinchuriki. I know because your m-Because I was there during the attack of the Kyuubi." Kakashi mentally winced at his blunder, but Naruto didn't catch on.
"Does Sakura-chan know?" Naruto asked.
"No. We didn't tell her, that's your job." Sasuke replied to the question.
"Oh." Naruto gave a smile, scratching his head, almost as a way of calming his nerves.
"Will you tell her?" Kakashi inquired. "It is your choice, Naruto-kun"
"Sakura-chan? I want to! But not now. I don't think I'm ready for it. But when I become the Hokage nobody will care if I'm the jinchuriki or not, because they'll all recognize me! Especially Sakura-chan, dattebayo!" Naruto exclaimed. The raven haired Uchiha smirked at the Naruto's overused announcement of his future becoming of hokage. It seemed to be pushed into as many sentences as would make sense.
"Kakashi, what really happened back there? I want the truth" Sasuke demanded. He was the only one that refused to use the traditionally respected titles as much as he could. There was a stubbornness in his eyes, a demand-no, a need for information.
Kakashi knew that Sasuke took this event personally, and had a strong suspicion that Itachi had somehow been brought into this by their attackers. And he was right, not that he knew that of course.
"I can't tell you everything that happened. Some of its classified, and the rest of it I am not sure of myself" Kakashi explained, "However, I can tell you that your attackers belong to some sort of organization, and, Naruto, they will most likely come back for you in years to come"
Naruto's eyes hardened with the strong will to be stronger, and to be ready to face these criminals. He wouldn't let people like them stop him! Not next time! He would get stronger.
Sasuke's eyes also hardened. But with determination. He would get stronger and he would be ready next time. If he couldn't stand against them, how would he defeat him? Yes, Sasuke would become more powerful, he would get revenge.
Kakashi sighed, looking at both his students. They were both fighting and competing for the same thing-strength. Yet their goals were so different.
Just then, Sakura came back in, the pack needed to make the trip back to Konoha filled with the supplies they would need.
"Sasuke, can you travel?" said the masked ninja. Sasuke carefully stood up, and with a moment of hesitation, he nodded in confirmation. "Good. We're heading out."
Team 7 took the bags, and walked out. They gave a thanks to the lady, and headed on their way.
It started out with a boring, tedious, long mission for making sure farm animals were safe. But it changed with a nightmare. It was saved with a stronger bond of friendship. It was threatened with the attack of Deidara and Sasori, powerful enemies, and was rescued by the mysterious surrender. Doubt, dreams, and bonds were changed. Over one, stupid, dull mission. But it was so much more than that now.
Sakura knew there was something, and she was okay with just that for now. Naruto knew she would find out, but just not now. Sasuke and Naruto, they used to be rivals. But now they were something more. They were friends. They're rivalry wouldn't stop, but it was different now. They had a bond, that couldn't, wouldn't be broken.
Puzzle pieces fell in to place, the discovery was completed. The mission had ended, and they were finally going back to the Village Hidden in the Leaves.
Right?
But, was the retreat from the attackers…
Was it really "Goodbye?"
AN: This is the end. My VERY FIRST STORY COMPLETED! At 11:13 PM on 3/28/14. Thank you ALL, SO much for reading this. I know my updates were less than plentiful, and my first chapters where short, and, well, not very good. Please review! And If you are reading this at a later time, somewhere in the future *waves hi* please review, no matter how long it's been. Even if it's short, it lets me know that people read and like it! Arigato!
*those matt things they have. Yeah, well Naruto passed out, so that's why he just sort of woke up. I actually forgot what I wanted to explain, so I think that was it…