7

"No." The Madara clone replied.

"Fine. We'll play it your way." Naruto glanced meaningfully at Konan and, at her slight nod, launched himself at Madara, fist raised behind him. He surrounded his hand with a thin layer of his air element chakra, creating the equivalent of a very sharp blade around it. He saw Madara shift slightly to receive his attack but, at the last moment, Naruto sidestepped his way around the Madara clone.

After making sure he was a good distance away, he glanced back and saw the clone busily dodging one after another of what looked to be Konan's paper senbon needles.

Thanks Konan. He thought to himself before he turned his attention to the original Madara, who was standing over Sasuke with an almost pitying, but at the same time, haughty look that clearly stated: I told you so.

"Get away from him you bastard!" Naruto shouted. The oldest Uchiha didn't turn, apparently believing that he was still held captive by his clone and was yelling as a bystander. Naruto's eyes burned.

He himself was amazed that he had any chakra left at all, not to mention the fact that he was still standing, but nonetheless, he summoned all the chakra he could. He coated his remaining hand with it so that both of his hands were bladed and he rushed towards Madara.

The man was still watching the downed Sasuke. Naruto looked at the younger raven and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Sasuke was currently back-talking Madara with a glare on his face. It was only when Naruto was almost upon them that Sasuke glanced at him and smirked. Madara looked up to follow his sightline just in time to introduce his left shoulder to one of Naruto's blade covered hands. He swiped his other hand at Madara as well, but missed as his slice went wide of the man's body.

The chakra around his hands disappeared and he pulled his hand from Madara's shoulder. The man grunted in pain and jumped back quickly while Naruto knelt down beside Sasuke. He slid an arm around Sasuke's middle and helped him to sit up.

"What happened, Madara? I didn't think it would be that easy to get a hit on you." The target of these words stared at Naruto while nursing his openly bleeding shoulder but he didn't reply. The blond decided to change his focus to the younger raven, who was leaning heavily against his side. "Are you okay?"

Sasuke nodded. "I'm fine, Nar-"He broke off as he looked up at the man next to him. His red eyes widened and his mouth opened slightly.

"What? Why are you staring at me like that? Sasuke! Answer me!" The blond snapped, annoyed that Sasuke wouldn't answer him and confused as to why the man had suddenly gone catatonic. He glanced at Madara warily to make sure that he was keeping a good distance back, and then at Konan, who was impressively holding her own against the Madara clone, though the clone seemed quite a bit weaker than the real thing.

After his sweep was done he returned his gaze to Sasuke who was still staring at him unsettlingly. Naruto narrowed his eyes.

"What is it?!" he barked. Sasuke blinked his eyes a few times and shook his head slightly. The sight was so funny that Naruto would have burst out laughing had it not been for the fact that his question was not being answered. "Damn it, Sasuke! What?!"

"Dobe, it's… it's your eyes… they're...Dobe. It's a kekkei genkai!" Sasuke said breathlessly, his eyes still wide.

Naruto's own eyes widened at the raven's words. "What are you talking about, teme? I don't have a kekkei genkai." He said slowly. He wasn't sure if it was a joke or not, but he really didn't think that Sasuke would joke at a time like this. At least he hoped not…

"Well you do now." Sasuke tightened his hold on Naruto's shoulder as he pushed himself up onto one knee. He tried to stand but his legs wouldn't support him. He cursed softly. After a second of catching his breath he reached down to his weapons pouch and pulled out one of his kunai. He looked at its reflective surface then handed it to Naruto.

"Look for yourself."

Naruto grabbed the kunai and did as Sasuke said. If even possible, Naruto's eyes grew wider than they already were. "What the hell." He said under his breath.

The irises of his eyes were a milky white like that of the Byakugan and the pupils were narrow slits that resembled what they were like, or so he'd been told, when the Kyuubi's chakra started to morph his features, but the rest of his eyes looked almost like the Sharingan. There was a thin circle that met the pupil at the top and bottom and there were three tomoe slowly spinning, just like the tomoe of any regular Sharingan did. But, comparing these tomoe with the ones that appeared with the Sharingan, they were longer, thinner, and more curved; like the small curved knives he had once seen that were imported from the west, beyond Gaara's country.

"I was wondering when it would appear." Naruto's head jerked up as Madara's voice reached his ears. The man was shaking out his left arm, making sure that Naruto hadn't cut any of the muscles or veins; which, unfortunately, he hadn't.

"What are you talking about, Madara?" he asked, though he had a good idea already.

"Your kekkei genkai of course. I was going to wait to take the fox until it had appeared and then torture you until you gave me your eyes-"

"Sadistic bastard." Naruto growled. Madara continued as if nothing was said, though a smirk rose to his lips at the comment.

"But this-this is even better! Sasuke-kun will give me his newly acquired Mangekyou Sharingan-"

"Not a chance, bitch." Sasuke muttered. Naruto nearly laughed at the affronted expression on Sasuke's face.

"-and you will give me yours and the Kyuubi in exchange for his life. That is a fair exchange, is it not?" Naruto was confused. Madara had sounded perfectly sane, if evil, when he first appeared. But now, he sounded something like a mad scientist.

"Go to hell, Madara! You're not getting our eyes or our lives, so go fuck yourself!" Naruto said, giving Madara a good look at his middle finger. Sasuke just smirked. Naruto had to admit that their humor was more than a little misplaced at a time like this. But what the hell. It looked like they were about to die anyway, regardless of what Naruto said.

"Oh… how rude. I'm sorry to hear that. Looks like I'll have to improvise-"

A second later Naruto's face met Madara's fist. Again.

The blond went flying back so hard that his impact against the paper wall shook the entire makeshift hideout. Sasuke fell back against the ground with a thump as Naruto disappeared from his side. The younger Uchiha looked up to the sight of Madara standing over him and a shiver ran down his spine, though he tried not to show it. The man reached down with his good arm and grabbed the back of his neck, pulling him up easily. His feet rose a few inches from the floor.

From his new vantage point, Sasuke could see the blond struggling to get up from the ground across the room. The younger raven reached up his hands to latch onto Madara's. He tried to pry the man's hand from his neck but dropped his arms as his neck was squeezed to the point that he couldn't breathe. After his arms fell to his sides, Madara's grip slackened. But only slightly.

"Let go of him!"

Naruto used the wall behind him as leverage to pull himself up. He watched as Sasuke gasped for air in Madara's grasp. He itched to go and beat Madara until he couldn't rise but the man had such a grip on Sasuke that he didn't want to risk it. Either way, the blond could barely lift himself off the ground. He had no chakra left whatsoever. He'd tried to talk to Kyuubi but he heard no response. He could barely feel her for that matter.

"Are you trying to get your little fox to help you, Naruto-kun? Don't bother. Sasuke-kun might have released the first seal I put on you but he didn't even see the second one."

"What?!" Naruto growled, trying to think of any time that Madara could have put another seal on him without his knowing. Unfortunately, there had been quite a few.

"It was one of my own making, so he wouldn't have been able to take it off anyway." Madara continued, seemingly unaware that Sasuke's face was growing pale from lack of air. "Feel honored. I haven't even named it yet. You're the first person I've used it on in a fight. It's meant purely for use on Jinchuuriki, and it seems that it works even better than I thought it would, though I admit that I underestimated the amount of chakra you have even without the fox's augmentation of your reserves."

Naruto glared at Madara who sighed and shook his head pityingly

"You can't use your kekkei genkai either. Heh. You don't even know what it does. And even if you did you still wouldn't be able to do anything because you're so exhausted. Admit it Naruto-kun. You've lost this fight."

Naruto was still silent.

"Just…let Sasuke go." He said slowly. Madara let out a deep chuckle then, freezing Naruto's heart in his chest. The triumphant smile the man gave tore into him just as well as any blade would have.

"I don't think I will. He's mine now."

xXx

Sasuke actually did shiver when he heard Madara speak those words. He fought his instinct to clutch at the hands around his throat, which were making it very hard to breathe. What is he planning?

His thoughts were cut short as his attention was drawn to the sound of something being dropped on the ground next to him and Madara. He looked out of the corner of his eye and saw the bloodied and bruised form of Konan lying at his feet. The Madara clone was standing over her with a smug look on his face.

"Heh. She was fun to play with but she got tired too fast." The clone kicked her in the side and she rolled onto her face and moaned softly. He put his hands together. "Release!" The clone promptly disappeared in a cloud of smoke and the original returned his gaze to Naruto. There was a calculating glint in them that he hadn't seen before. Naruto didn't like it.

"Well? What do you say? Will you give me your eyes?"

"Go to hell!" the blond snarled without thinking. Madara smirked.

"Fine. Suit yourself. Come find us when you change your mind."

He pulled out a scroll from beneath his cloak and threw it in the air. He raised his free hand to his mouth and bit into the skin of his thumb until it bled. The scroll unfurled around him and he ran his thumb through the middle of it leaving a thin line of blood. The scroll surrounded him and Sasuke and just before it completely blocked the two from view, the oldest living Uchiha raised a mocking hand in farewell to Naruto.

"Bye-bye Naruto-kun! See if you can learn how to use your kekkei genkai a little better before you give it to me."

"No! Madara, you bastard! Wait! Let Sasuke go!" Naruto ran forward only to have his legs give out on him. The blond pitched face-first at the ground and only just managed to catch himself with his hands. He looked up just in time to see the cocoon-like scroll surrounding Madara and Sasuke unravel to reveal an empty space where they'd once stood.

"Damn it!" he punched the ground weakly. "Damn it, Damn it, Damn it!" he bowed forward on his knees and pressed his forehead onto the ground.

"Sasuke…"