Disclaimer: Yea, I don't own Naruto.

Semi-short chapter ahead. Sorry about that. I included a little bit of Ch. 8 in ch. 7. That's the reason for shortness. I know some of you have been wary about the way I've portrayed Sasuke and Naruto, but, I sort of did that on purpose. Remember that the first 7 chapters of this story took place over two days. Some of their strange behavior will be revealed in this chapter and the oncoming chapters. They will start to return to being completely normal soon. (Though I don't think they have been completely abnormal. After all, they are two confused teenage boys that are coming to terms with their feelings for another after being rivals, friends, and enemies. Not too mention hardly seeing each other for three years. This whole experiencing is somewhat affecting their personalities because of how spontaneously it happened and how strangely they admitted their feelings. It's hitting them like……..well, a pink haired alien girl with a bass guitar if you will--for those of you that understood that reference I praise you ha--But I hope you all understand what I mean by all this.) Nevertheless, let me know what you think.

The Way Things Are

Chapter 8

"It seems I'm getting closer." Kabuto snickered as he stared at the lifeless ANBU member's body sprawled out below him. "Konoha's defenses are getting weaker………But, I'm sure that bitch of a Hokage will find out about my sudden appearance soon."

Orochimaru had sent Kabuto out to retrieve Sasuke once he had learned that Anko and he had begun to fight. "It will be easy to find Sasuke now." Kabuto was still a bit worried as to how he would go about getting Sasuke to return. He was weaker than the Uchiha and he had already exerted a good deal of chakra from his recent battle. "Orochimaru is planning on using the immortality jutsu to take Sasuke's body as his own soon. It's been about three years since Orochimaru used it last. The time will be soon." Kabuto realized that this was the only reason Orochimaru had sent him to recover Sasuke. "Orochimaru is……. He's getting a bit worried. How strange."

"Stealth is the best option here." Kabuto decided. "I can't be seen by anyone except Sasuke." Kabuto leapt into the trees, rain pounding his body as a sudden downfall erupted from the sky.

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"Things are heating up." Anko licked her lips sadistically at the sight of her own blood. Sasuke had created a fairly large gouge in her shoulder. The two had separated suddenly after their clash in air. Anko had swung her kunai with perfect aim towards the Uchiha's torso. But, somehow, he dodged it as though he knew her own movements before she had completed them. He proceeded to rip his own weapon forcefully through her shoulder. "I forgot about the sharingan."

"That's some wound you have. You should leave. I have no time or patience to waste on you." Sasuke spoke, void of emotion. Anko's eyes narrowed slightly but her smile grew larger. She chuckled loudly enough for Sasuke to hear.

"HA! I Guess that mean this is just going to be more fun." Anko's eyes glinted. "Uchiha……….We have something in common." Anko swore she saw Sasuke's head tilt a few centimeters in confusion. "Besides having this damned seal on our neck……We both have been trained under Orochimaru." Anko performed a number of hand seals quickly, she charged forward through the pounding rain.

"You're gonna tell me where I can find that bastard!" Anko screamed. "Only one of us can kill him!"

"I know this jutsu." Sasuke's sharingan went to work. He performed identical hand seals immediately.

"AND IT'S GONNA BE ME!" Anko's fist surged forward. "HIDDEN SHADOW-" Anko recited loudly.

"-Snake hand!" Sasuke's timing was so precise that he had performed the same jutsu by the time Anko had.

Four snakes flew from Sasuke's sleeve. They collided swiftly in mid-air with Anko's own four snakes. Anko leapt into the air behind her, keeping her snakes where they collided with Sasuke's.

"Oh yea!? Try this!" Anko's hands went back to work, quickly creating more seals. Her free hand approached her lips. "Fire Style: Dragon-"

"Flame Jutsu!" Sasuke's timing was impeccable. Scorching flames erupted from Sasuke's and Anko's mouths. "I should've known……….He knows most of the same jutsu I know."

The flames soared in a red hot blaze down the very snakes the two ninja had just summoned. Crimson sparks flew about, dancing like petals on the wind. Smoke and steam weaved upward as the rain collided into the fire attacks. Anko watched through the flailing shadows, seeing Sasuke's flame fly along her snakes and up towards her arms. She dove at an angle, dodging the flames but keeping an eye on the Uchiha. Her attack landed vengefully upon Sasuke's body, engulfing the boy in a crackling inferno.

"Too easy." She thought in disbelief.

"POOF!" Her eyes widened in horror as Sasuke's body disappeared from the conflagration. A small tree had taken his place. Anko gasped.

"He got me with a simple replacement technique! How did he-" The kunoichi sensed another attack from behind her. She was too late. Anko only had time to move her legs an inch before feeling the cold serration of a sword tear ruthlessly at her side. She screamed in pain.

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Naruto watched carefully by his back door as his shadow clone distracted Shizune into thinking it was actually him.

He had seen Shizune approaching his house through his destroyed door. In the moments before the medical ninja had reached his apartment, Naruto fought at the restraints Sasuke had placed around him. He successfully removed them, making them disappear in a cloud of smoke. He had created a shadow clone identical to the position he had just been in, snakes and all. He had dashed onto his balcony all before Shizune stepped inside.

"Hold on, Naruto, I'll get them off you." Shizune approached the snakes. As soon as she touched them they disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Shizune narrowed her eyes in confusion.

"Hahah. Thanks, Shizune." The shadow clone smirked largely and placed his hand behind his head. He even began to blush in embarrassment.

The real Naruto continued to listen from outside. "I can't let her see me. This has to work."

"Naruto? What happened? Who did this to you?" Shizune interrogated the clone.

"Oh………. Uhhhh…. Well I guess I just let my guard down while I was… uhh… napping! Yea that's it! I was napping! Haha. And when I woke up there were these snakes around me." The clone chuckled nervously. Shizune grunted.

"Ok……" Shizune could see past Naruto's poor lying skills, but, not his shadow clone. She still thought it was him. "Naruto….I need you to stay here……Or go to Tsunade-sama-Go somewhere safe." Shizune looked worriedly at the blonde's clone.

"Ha….Ok Shizune……You got it! No moving for me! I'll stay right here." The clone continued.

"Something's wrong with him……There's no time now though……Anko is definitely going after someone and I have to follow her!" Shizune decided to let Naruto's strange behavior slide for a now. She leapt out the front entrance. "Be safe, Naruto!" She yelled backwards.

Naruto's clone disappeared. The real Naruto walked inside his apartment, fists already clenched. He remembered Sasuke.

"No more games." Naruto thought seriously. He picked up his orange jacket and put it on his body. "I should've known…………I shouldn't have yielded. There's only one real way to bring Sasuke back." Naruto slipped a kunai into his holster. He grabbed his headband and tied it around his head almost tighter than ever. He leapt from his balcony flying towards the forest. He watched lightning flash in the darkness of the trees.

"I actually believed that that teme cared about me……..-That maybe he had changed and he was going to stay….." Naruto bit his lip, rain pecking at his body maliciously. "I was wrong." He spoke through his clenched jaw. Anger and pain overtook his sadness. "I gave into him……his seduction…that bastard. I made myself look weak-He almost got me to submit…………….He did get me to submit." Naruto tried to sob, but, masked it with an angry grunt.

"I love you, Sasuke." Naruto cringed at the words he had said as Sasuke left him. Naruto's panicked anger went back to work. "He left! He just left me again! The teme didn't even talk to me-he just left-He fucking used me!" Naruto's scream of rage was suppressed by a blast of thunder nearby.

"I cried for that bastard! I let him see me cry! It was SASUKE!" Naruto felt himself fill with the kyuubi's chakra. "What the hell is happening to me? What has he done to me? What have I become? I understand now why that bastard tried to suppress and control his emotions all that time! Feelings suck! They just bring more pain!" Naruto tried it himself. He repressed the urge to cry inside of him and filled the void with blind rage. He leapt from a long rooftop to a large tree right outside the forest. He went on with amazing speed.

"No more games." Naruto's mind repeated itself. "I didn't want to have to fight him again….not like last time……I thought we could do things differently this time." Naruto closed his eyes in regret.

"Whether I hate him or whether I love him-I won't let him go-not yet……Never again. He can't control me-I'll show him who's weak and who's dominant-I care about him… about his feelings-------It's time he cared about mine."

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Anko breathed heavily, Sasuke's sword jutted out from her side. The rain wiped the splattered blood on her side, causing it to stream down her body in a watered down river. Her lungs and chest convulsed. Her throat shuddered and tightened. She coughed loudly and gagged on her own blood.

"Bastard." She whispered weakly behind her.

"Hn." Sasuke gripped the handle of his sword tightly and retracted it forcefully back through Anko's side. The scream that escaped her body was blood-curdling. Sasuke almost smiled. He watched the jonin fall reflexively to her knees. "I'm leaving……I should kill her, but, she'll die anyway before anyone finds her." Sasuke walked in front of Anko and tried to leave. He leapt towards a gnarled tree.

"Wait! Dammit! I'm not finished yet!" Sasuke turned in time to see a smile on Anko's already drained face. Her thumb touched the gash on her abdomen. "She can't have enough chakra-let alone focus to do that." Sasukethought and turned his back on her a second time.

Anko slid her thumb down her forearm. Her blood coated it. After performing more hand seals, she slapped her palm on the ground. "SUMMONING JUTSU!" Anko yelled with the last of her strength.

Sasuke turned in time to feel the ground shake violently. Before him was an immense cloud of smoke. "She couldn't have." There, in front of Sasuke, was a Kyodaija. Anko had summoned a giant snake. "This is the same size that I can summon-But if I summon one then the ANBU and other Konoha shinobi will defiantly be aware of me. I'm surprised they can't sense me yet." Sasuke wasn't one for fleeing, but, he realized that was his only option. He bounded through the forest.

"Oh no you don't!" Needles slid down Anko's sleeves and landed between her fingers. As soon as she got the newly summoned snake to flank Sasuke on his left, she threw the needles from both her hands towards him. She watched Sasuke do an acrobatic flip over the snake's open jaws. In the midst of his aerial he pulled his sword out and swiped at the needles with more finesse than Anko had ever seen. "It's not over yet." Her vision blurred for a second. "Losing too much blood."

The snake weaved expertly about. It continued to cut off Sasuke's escape routes. It veered and opened its' large mouth, ready to swallow the Uchiha whole. While the Kyodaija distracted Sasuke, Anko forced her body to stand. "I have enough chakra for a final attack…………..I gotta time this just right." She closed her eyes tightly and focused the last of her chakra reserves. Anko leapt into the trees with extreme speed and stealth. Her blood left a dark trail behind her.

"She's trying to attack me again." Sasuke thought as he dodged another of the immense snake's attacks. He picked something else up coming in front of him and behind him fast. "More shinobi."

The first of his two new attackers appeared in a flash of lightning in front of him. She approached nimbly, sending needles towards Sasuke through her mouth. "Fucking kunoichi! Women!" Sasuke thought disgustedly.

"Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!" He dodged the needles only to find more coming from the kunoichi in front of him and from Anko on his left.

"Ninja Art: Posion Fog!" The attacker in front of him shot a massive cloud of purple, poisoned fog from her mouth. Sasuke didn't have to guess that one breath of it could potentially kill him.

"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu!" Anko shot the same flame attack from before towards Sasuke's left. The Kyodaija Leaped towards Sasuke's right. "Behind me-only escape." Sasuke turned quickly. His eyes glanced at his new attacker. His heart skipped a beat.

"Naruto!" Sasuke meant to think what he accidentally yelled. A red glow surrounded the blonde.

"Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto screamed and hundreds of Narutos filled the sky. Their hands were full of shuriken. Sasuke narrowed his eyes slightly. "You wanna fight dobe? Why did you come?"

The clones sent their shuriken flying towards Sasuke. Attacks came from all sides. Naruto's shadow clones, Anko's fire jutsu, the poison fog, the Kyodaija, and all those needles and shuriken.

"Hn." Sasuke said amused. He had already outsmarted them. Or so he thought. "All I have to do is jump from the tree and land on the ground below m-" Sasuke felt the tree shake around him unexpectedly.

"RASENGAN!" Naruto's voice rang out. "I wasn't expecting him to attack." Sasuke thought as he watched the real Naruto's spiraling sphere tear into the tree he stood on. Sasuke lost his balance and felt the tree crumble around him. The blue aura that came from Naruto's attack blinded Sasuke unexpectedly. It tore at the foliage and debris that had once been a large tree. Sasuke felt the very branch he was standing on disintegrate and collapse. He fell swiftly and remembered the other attacks. He was too late.

Anko's fire jutsu brushed against his arm that tried desperately to dodge. The sharingan couldn't help him now. Several needles dove into his limbs. He redirected his body in mid air enough to successfully maneuver around the snake's gaping jaws. The poison gas approached quickly as well. Sasuke arched his back while falling and held his breath. The fog blew right above his body. His ears picked up the whizzing sound of shuriken from behind him. Several landed swiftly.

"One…Two-three….Four." Sasuke felt them tear at his side, back, thigh, and shoulder. He managed to dodge the several hundred others that passed him quickly. He was approaching the ground fast. He turned his body getting ready to anticipate the rough landing. His eyes met a pair of blue ones. "Naruto."

Naruto dispelled his clones sending a colossal amount of distracting smoke throughout the woods. Sasuke waited to feel the ground, but, instead felt Naruto's arms wrap themselves around him. "He caught me." Naruto started running deeper into the forest as he secured his scooping grasp on Sasuke. He had hoped that his smoke diversion was enough to mask from the others that he had ran off with Sasuke.

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"Naruto!?" Shizune looked around worriedly for the blonde. The Uchiha was gone as well. Her poison fog and the smoke dispelled by Naruto's clones and Anko's giant snake were enough to mask all visible movement.

As the haze subsided, Shizune's eyes glanced at the person she was supposed to be most concerned with at the time. "Anko!" Shizune leaped towards the other jonin. "She's unconscious." Shizune knew before she landed next to Anko. "Her wounds look pretty fatal. I've got to hurry!"

Blue chakra engulfed Shizune's hands. She touched Anko's wounds and was surprised to find that her chakra had already stopped the bleeding. "It almost seems like the Uchiha held back…He could have killed her……But he didn't."

Shizune's worried eyes searched the forest desperately for the blonde haired ninja. "Ohhhh." Shizune whined. "What should I do?" Shizune's frantic mind panicked. "I can't just leave Naruto out here………But I have to get Anko to safety as well."

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"I've been a fool." Sasuke closed his eyes at the persistent rain that had continued to fly into them. He opened them and looked up at Naruto who was still carrying him and moving fairly fast. Naruto didn't look back at Sasuke. Images of the last two days flashed in Sasuke's memory. "That's not me. I know it…….And so does the dobe. No more games."

"Dobe?" Sasuke asked; His tone was full of spite and irritability.

"Teme?" Naruto asked back, mimicking Sasuke.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Sasuke's hushed voice exhibited nothing but anger.

"I'm taking you to the Hokage." Naruto stated matter-of-factly. Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "You're hurt, and she can help you. Besides, since you're staying in the village now she's going to have to try you for your crimes." Naruto knew Sasuke was getting angrier. He tightened his hold on the dark haired boy. "Don't worry, Sasuke. The old hag likes me and I'll help you get out of most of your punishment." Sasuke thought he saw Naruto smile.

"That's not happening Naruto." Sasuke made his words sound like a law. "There's the real Sasuke." Naruto scoffed.

Sasuke grunted and pushed himself forcefully out of Naruto's grasp. He heard Naruto's feet skid across the wet ground and proceeded to punch the blonde in the face. Naruto grabbed Sasuke's fist.

"I didn't want to fight again. Not like last time. But if that's what it's going to take-"

"Hn." Sasuke grunted coldly. Naruto stared in disgust and shook his head slowly as though he was trying to reassure himself of Sasuke's actions. "Yep, he's back."

"You don't have to go back." Naruto lowered his gaze away from Sasuke's.

"Yes. I. Do." Sasuke's frustration grew. He swung his other fist and struck Naruto abruptly in the face. Naruto grunted and countered by swinging his foot towards Sasuke's stomach. Sasuke didn't have time to block the attack. The boys' blows landed and they quickly separated from each other. The rain was the only thing that stopped an uncomfortable silence from passing over.

"You're always changing Sasuke." Naruto touched his hand to his face, examining the punch he had just received. "But I saw something in you the last two days. Something that made me hope we could be friends again. Maybe more than just that………" Naruto's voice trailed off. Sasuke scoffed.

"It isn't something that I just noticed either." Naruto continued despite Sasuke's familiar indifference. "You showed me." Naruto repeated with a stronger voice. "You showed me…………….Don't go back….. Not to Orochimaru or the way you used to be…….What about everything you said to me?"

"I shouldn't have ever come." Sasuke spat back. The air felt colder. Naruto exhaled slowly.

"You don't mean that." Naruto said in disbelief and sorrow.

"Yes. I. Do. Do not make me repeat myself." Sasuke spoke as though nothing had occurred in the last two days. Naruto and Sasuke felt the rain become sharper as it pierced them with chilling hate.

"I love you, Sasuke." Naruto needed to say it. He needed Sasuke to hear it. His warm words dissolved into the frigid storm. Sasuke began to realize how much their roles had changed since he had arrived two days ago to now.

"We can get through this together………..these feelings…..the past…….Stay with me." Naruto begged softly. Sasuke's jaw clenched.

"I told you not to follow me. You're already destroying my trust." Sasuke was angry but lied to Naruto and himself callously.

"What's more important to you? What about-" Naruto was cut off.

"You're a dobe, Naruto. More than that. You're a fool. I've already explained myself. You're nothing to me." Sasuke hissed maliciously, his words traveled on the icy wind.

Naruto's eyes seared. "No more tears." He told himself and stared back at Sasuke. "He'll really do anything to leave." Naruto's lips quivered. "I love you, Sasuke." He spoke genuinely but also let his words tear at Sasuke's heart. Sasuke stared back for a moment. Naruto waited, never letting his gaze falter. The boys had indeed reversed their roles.

"Hn. I'm leaving." Sasuke turned grimly.

Naruto felt intense pain and anger build inside of him. He charged through the pounding rain towards Sasuke. Everything seemed to slow down for a brief moment. Sasuke watched Naruto charge towards him out of the corner of his eye. Everything paused as Sasuke's mind decided what to do next. However, something stopped him and Naruto from meeting again.

Naruto felt something touch his shoulders. His muscles ripped apart wildly inside of him. The pain was intense. There were hands on his shoulders, glowing blue hands. Naruto suddenly remembered this pain as his attacker leaped in front of him and drove his open, shimmering palm into Naruto's chest. Naruto flew backward into a tree. Blood shot from his mouth.

"Kabuto." Sasuke hissed.

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I know that ending is a bit…..well… sad…But I sort of liked writing it….I think it shows a lot about Naruto and Sasuke and their relationship… or lack there of...

I actually wrote the fight scene in this chapter while listening to the Raikiri track on the Naruto soundtrack. And I wrote the scene at the end between Naruto and Sasuke while listening to the track called grief and sorrow. It sort of helped me out.

But keep reading I have some great ideas for future chapters. And review-I can't keep writing if no one is reading-just tell me what you think.