Panic settled into Naruto's stomach as he realized his mistake. He had allowed himself to fall asleep. In his desire to escape the physical pain, he had forgotten about the scene awaiting him behind closed eyes. The laughter sounded louder than it had previously, and there seemed to be a hysterical edge to it he couldn't recall hearing before. Surrounding him were the same horrible sights as always. He didn't want to move forward, but he didn't have a choice. His feet were taking him through the woods, to the very sight he had tried to avoid.

He willed himself to wake up, but failed. While the Kyuubi was gone he had been able to wake up before the dream continued past his arrival, and once Kyuubi was back the dream was blocked. He continued to move forward and he knew. This was it. For the first time in two years he would see this dream to the end. There was no waking up from this. Naruto swallowed before stepping into the clearing. The laughing man was in front of him now, his face visible. For years he had been trying to deny this man's identity, trying to remember him as someone other than this, but the evidence was right before his eyes. As he took another step closer, the man stopped laughing and merely smirked.

"So this is where we meet again?"

Naruto stared at the man before him, the man he had always held out hope for. "This is where it ends, Sasuke."

oOoOo

Jiraiya stared at Minato as he stared at Naruto. It was well into the afternoon, and Minato had decided they should rest in a small inn along the way to Konoha. Rest wasn't really needed, but Minato claimed that Hiriashin wouldn't be good for Naruto in his current state. Jiraiya wouldn't say anything right now, but a part of him suspected that Minato knew Naruto would be in trouble for coming and he wanted to figure out why first.

Jiraiya couldn't help but have some sympathy for the kid. He had helped them in their escape, and now seemed to be in pathetic shape. His body was tense and he was covered in sweat. The poor kid had been outmatched, yet he had continued to fight to help them. Naruto was a fool, though he seemed a genuine one. Despite his apprehension about the boy, Jiraiya allowed Minato to wait for him to wake.

Minato had baffled him as well. He had known that Minato trusted the kid, but he hadn't expected the anger. If Kakashi, Rin, or Obito were in danger, Minato would've been worried for them, but he never would've reacted so angrily. What had caused Minato to lose it? Jiraiya thought back to the moments after Naruto passed out. Minato had approached the boy and quickly checked him for wounds, when he found none he had lifted the boy onto his back, despite Naruto being nearly the same height as him. Jiraiya had offered to carry Naruto, but Minato had refused. Since, he hadn't let the boy out of his sight.

Jiraiya had suspected back in Konoha that Minato trusted Naruto too much, that he was getting too attached, and it seemed now that the pieces were falling together. There were only a handful of people the Jiraiya would respond that violently to being in danger, Minato being one of them. And for every one of them it was the same reason: they were family. Did Minato count Naruto as family? It wouldn't be surprising. Naruto looked enough like Minato that they could be related somehow.

Still, Jiraiya wished they would move on. The inn they were staying at was on the lower end of class, and Jiraiya didn't want to risk losing the seal. They needed to get back to Konoha to figure out what it was and what it did. Jiraiya went back to staring at Minato. His back was erect in a way that would bother him later, but for now, Minato seemed oblivious to anything but Naruto. If the kid didn't wake up soon, Jiraiya would have to drag them both out before they were caught.

oOoOo

For years, Naruto had been hoping that Sasuke would return to Konoha. That things would return to the way they were before the chuunin exams. Even when Sasuke had tried to kill B, Naruto had still held out hope that he could be saved. But that was the thing about hope, it doesn't change anything. Many people claim to have hope, but in the end, all hope does is keep you from facing reality. That your best friend is gone. That the one person you've been working to save for three years doesn't want to be saved. That no matter how many times you say that you'll bring him back, you always leave off the part that you probably won't be alive to bring him back. Because then people have hope. As long as they don't know what going to happen, they can hope for the best.

But Naruto knew what was going to happen. One of them, and probably both were going to die.

Naruto knew better than to stare directly into Sasuke's eyes, but he couldn't stop himself from looking over Sasuke. Though his physical appearance was the same, there was something different about Sasuke. His body was rigid and from the quick scan of his face that Naruto did, his eyes were cold. "I'm going to ask again; please come home, Sasuke! Come back to Konoha, we can work everything out later, but please come home." Naruto tried to keep his voice even, but he sounded desperate.

Sasuke chuckled. "Come back? All that's waiting for me in Konoha is death."

Naruto opened his mouth to argue back, but Sasuke was gone. Naruto took a step towards Sasuke's previous spot. A whirling sound behind him gave him enough time to dodge the kunai coming to his back. Naruto spun around, drawing his own kunai. He scanned the woods for a sign of Sasuke, but the forest was empty. Sasuke was neither on the ground, nor in the trees. Naruto jumped onto a branch as Sasuke broke through the ground. "I see you've learned to think a little, Naruto. I'm surprised; I didn't expect that of a dead-last."

Naruto fought the desire to charge him straight on. Doing so would only end with him getting hurt. Sasuke's sword was better than his own kunai's, which meant a head on attack wouldn't be smart.

Thinking things through now, kit? I have to agree with the Uchiha, I didn't think I'd see the day.

Ignoring Kyuubi's comment, Naruto withdrew a tag from his weapon's pouch, eyeing Sasuke the entire time. Why wasn't he moving? Naruto wrapped the tag onto his kunai and threw it at Sasuke. He didn't budge as the kunai landed on the branch he was on and exploded. The Sasuke in front of him disappeared in a puff.

When had Sasuke had time to create a clone? Now wasn't the time to figure that out, all he needed to do was keep his focus on his surroundings. Sasuke could be anywhere. Not wanting to waste time, Naruto bit his thumb and formed the hand seals to summon Gamabunta. The seal appeared on the ground before disappearing and leaving a toad in its wake. "Do you have any snacks?"

Naruto groaned as Gamatatsu stared at him. Why could he never get the jutsu right? Light and heat came rushing forward. Naruto grabbed Gamatatsu and hopped onto a higher branch as the flames licked the trees below. Sasuke came running forward, already forming another jutsu. Naruto placed the small toad down and rushed to Sasuke straight on. As Sasuke finished the hand seal, Naruto side stepped and completed his own hand seal, sending a gust of wind towards Sasuke. He was pushed back slightly nut didn't lose his balance like he should've. Sasuke sent a succession of fireballs towards him. Naruto dodged the first two before getting burned by the third.

Naruto didn't stop as he formed a wind blade. Sasuke used fire to propel himself above the blade. The wind from the blade caught the fire, causing the fire to increase in size. Wind vs. Fire was going to be a hard battle to win. This would be a different battle if Naruto had decided to learn water jutsu before starting small fire jutsu's. His fire wouldn't be strong enough to fight Sasuke's. Sasuke used the momentum from the fire to push himself closer to Naruto. Sasuke drew his sword and struck towards Naruto's side. Naruto raised a kunai to stop the sword, but the blade still cut his wrist. Naruto cursed as he remembered that it was the incorrect way to stop the sword. He pulled his hand back to keep the cut from deepening and tried to form a wind jutsu, but the pain in his wrist prevented it. Sasuke was still attacking with the sword, giving Naruto no option but to duck and try to get away.

His hand would only take a minute to heal, but he needed to survive the onslaught first. Sasuke was gaining on him, when Naruto saw a small yellow object fly past him. Naruto wanted to immediately turn around to check on Gamatatsu, but he knew the toad was trying to give him time to escape. Naruto looked over his hand, it was well enough to use once again. He quickly made twenty shadow clones, sending them each in different directions. Naruto jumped onto the top branch of one of the trees, giving him a good enough vantage point to see everything. Sasuke was nowhere in sight, so Gamatatsu must have succeeded in distracting him. Naruto tried not to think of what might have happened to the toad. He had always been so lazy, always complaining about being hungry, that Naruto was surprised he had done something to fight. Hopefully he knew what he was doing.

Do you know what you are doing?

Of course I do! I'm fighting Sasuke, and I'm going to stop him!

So what's your plan?

…I'm making it up as I go along.

It seems more to me like you're hiding.

Indignation rose within Naruto. Hiding? I'm trying not to get myself killed before I can stop him!

You've never cared before. You always rush head first into a fight, and as much as I hate to say it, that seemed to be working better for you. At least you were never running scared.

I'm not running scared. Sasuke's different from any of the others. He's smarter, and he has the sharingan, which is dangerous even if I don't look him in the eye. He can read my movements and react before I even make them.

Do not worry about genjutsu, I can help keep your mind free. And he may be able to read your movements, but he couldn't read 'ours.'

Naruto nodded. How long will we be able to fuse our chakra together?

We haven't practiced it much at all, so probably only a few minutes. You need to use that time wisely.

A blur to his left told Naruto that Sasuke was here. He drew upon the Kyuubi's chakra, but it took several seconds before their bond was formed. Sasuke shot several firebombs at Naruto, who used wind to blow the fire back. Sasuke dodged, but Naruto saw the edge of his shirt catch fire. Not giving Sasuke time to recover, Naruto made the signs and send a wave of dust towards Sasuke. The dust got into Sasuke's eyes, temporarily blinding him. The connection between him and Kyuubi was complete.

Naruto was by Sasuke's side in a flash. He used the Kyuubi's limbs to help him form a rasengan, which he thrust towards Sasuke's abdomen. The hit connected and Sasuke grunted in pain as he was shoved backwards into a tree. Naruto followed up with a second rasengan. Naruto was thrown back with such a great force, he nearly lost his breath. Looking up, he saw that Sasuke had summoned his Susanoo.

A normal shinobi would be intimidated by the violet demon surrounding Sasuke, but Naruto hardly cared. He knew that Susanoo was powerful, but dwelling on that wasn't going to help. He needed a way to stop Sasuke. Naruto jumped and rolled when a fireblast was sent his way. Naruto looked down when he felt the ground beneath him move. White snakes were slithering over the branches. He moved and used a wind cutting technique to cut the snakes in half. They hissed before their bodies disappeared in a puff.

A yellow dot distracted Naruto for a minute. He breathed a sigh of relief to see Gamatatsu okay. Well, the poor toad looked pretty beat up, but he was alive. Naruto wanted to get closer to inspect him some more, but a bolt of lightning struck him in the leg. Naruto cried out in pain and he grasped his leg. Another shot out toward him, but Kyuubi used his arms to block it. Naruto straightened up. He and Kyuubi had already combined their chakra, but they were definitely not working together.

We need to make a plan.

Sasuke can hold Susanoo longer than we can our bond, but the Susanoo will drain Sasuke. Unlike out bond, Sasuke's causes him pain. We need to do everything we can to weaken Susanoo for when our bond breaks.

And how do we do that? Direct hits don't do anything against it.

Not true. Every hit is a strike against their bond, causing Sasuke to be in more pain. If we can get Sasuke hurt enough to end Susanoo, you can finish him.

They had already been working together for four minutes, so they probably only had a short time left. Naruto charged forward, creating four shadow clones. The first two stepped forward to ward of the oncoming attacks, while the other two stood behind him. Naruto quickly made a Rasengan, using the two behind him to manipulate its nature. Despite not being in Sage Mode, Kyuubi's chakra allowed him to still throw the Rasen-shurikan. The wind shurikan was too fast for Sasuke to avoid. Susanoo blocked Sasuke's body from a direct hit, but the force behind the shurikan was enough to knock Sasuke down. Naruto didn't waste time in throwing another, this one catching the top of Susanoo and pushing it back.

The demon seemed to be growing angrier, but Sasuke looked to be struggling. He was bent over and panting. Naruto could see that Sasuke's eye was twitching. He was struggling to keep the Susanoo up.

Just a little bit more.

Naruto sent a third rasen-shurikan at Sasuke. Not waiting for it to even connect, Naruto formed the hand seals for a new jutsu: Atsugai. The air around Sasuke compressed and quickly built up pressure. Naruto made sure the pressure stayed focus on the ground around Sasuke. The pressure built up until Naruto couldn't hold it any longer. Wind and compressed air compacted and Naruto was thrown off his feet. It took several seconds to die down. Naruto could feel his own bond with Kyuubi ending. He had never used Atsugai before and it had exhausted the Kyuubi's chakra. Naruto felt weakened as he glanced over the arm h had been using to shield his face. Sasuke was just standing up, his Susanoo gone. Both of their greatest techniques were used, leaving both of them tired. This wouldn't last much longer.

Naruto struggled to his feet, his legs almost giving out on him. He took a wobbly step forward, trying not to fall. He kept moving forward, grabbing tree branches to keep himself upright. He didn't have much strength in him. He needed to stall long enough to give him body time to recover. "Why are you doing this?

Sasuke glared at him, panting. It would seem Sasuke was out of strength as well. "Why? I told you, to avenge my brother. Itachi was banished and considered a traitor to Konoha, when everything he did was for it."

"Itachi loved Konoha! He would never wish for you to destroy it." Naruto yelled.

"The elders need to pay for what they did, and if I have to take down Konoha in the process, then I gladly will." Sasuke's voice was cold. To a stranger, it would seem that Sasuke truly did not care for the civilian lives that would be lost, but Naruto could see the truth. Sasuke still hadn't shut off all of his emotions; his ties with Konoha weren't severed yet.

"Destroying Konoha wouldn't be avenging Itachi. You're only looking for your own revenge." Naruto yelled, his voice increasing in volume. "You think it'll make you feel better? Do you really think wiping out Konoha and killing hundreds of innocent people will make you feel better? Will make Itachi's banishment and death less painful?"

Sasuke's eyes snapped towards his. His glare was deadly, and he was probably trying to use a genjutsu, which the Kyuubi was preventing. Naruto used the opportunity to take a closer look at Sasuke. His body was still shaking slightly, so he was still recovering. He looked angry and bitter, but Naruto could see the hint of pain in his eyes. Sasuke was trying his best to stop the pain by using it to fuel his anger. But Naruto was bringing that pain to the surface. "You can't keep living in the past. Itachi killed the Uchiha clan, Sasuke, but he did it out of love for Konoha, and for you! This plan that you have is only dishonoring him!"

Naruto barely saw Sasuke move. One second he was there, the next he was charging. Sasuke had never been one charge into a fight head on, so Naruto's words must have angered him to the point of recklessness. Naruto reacted quickly. He summoned a shadow clone and started forming rasengan. Sasuke already had chidori formed and was heading for a head on fight. Naruto made his next move without thinking. He used the shadow clone to make another. The second clone got to working, changing the nature of his rasengan. He didn't have the time for Sage Mode and he didn't have the strength for molding with the Kyuubi. He wouldn't be able to throw the rasen-shurikan.

Kakashi's words range in his head as he met Sasuke. Tsunade has forbidden you from using that jutsu. The Rasen-shurikan is powerful, but it's harming you as well. She was able to heal your arm this time, but the next time, you won't be as lucky. The two fists collided. A flash of white light blinded Naruto to all but Sasuke. His eyes were wide open as the jutsu's connected. Unlike the previous two times they had fought like this, Naruto didn't stop when their fists connected. Pain flared up his arm, but he ignored it, pushing the shurikan closer to Sasuke. The light grew brighter, blocking even Sasuke from his sight.

Naruto closed his eyes as the light became too bright to continue to see. The momentum from his attack threw him to the ground.

Naruto opened his eyes to the air clearing of dust. How much time passed, he didn't know. He pushed himself up to his knees, his body feeling too weak to stand. Looking over he saw Sasuke lying on the ground. Panic overcame Naruto. Sasuke was okay right? Surely the jerk had survived the blast. Naruto used his hands to crawl over to the body lying in the center of a crater. Naruto couldn't stop the tears as his mind recognized the sight before him. Sasuke was lying completely still, not breathing. Of course he wouldn't survive the attack, it had wiped out two of Kakuza's lives. Naruto couldn't stop the tears, he was supposed to die as well! That was what he told Sasuke when they had last met. He punched the ground in anger, pain shooting throughout his arm. Naruto glanced down, becoming aware of the throbbing in his arm. Blood was trailing down it, the skin cut up and destroyed.

Standing, Naruto made the hand signs to create a shadow clone. The pain became worse, but nothing happened. Good, at least he didn't make it out unscathed.

oOoOo

Naruto's eyes opened wide and he gasped for air. Minato was at the side of the bed in an instant. Naruto was sweating and breathing hard, and at that moment, all he needed was someone to tell him everything was okay. He had murdered his best friend, and for the past two years had been trying to live in denial. He had been holding onto the past, the same thing he had accused Sasuke of doing. Minato wrapped an arm around his shoulder, trying to give him comfort. Without thinking, Naruto leaned into the touch, seeing the comfort given. How could he have killed his best friend? Naruto sobbed. He may have been Hokage, but he was only nineteen and he needed to know his father wasn't disappointed in him. "I'm so sorry, Dad. I'm so sorry."

Minato stiffened beside him. "What did you call me?"

A/N: Well, I'm alive. I'm sorry that it took me so long to update. Do not worry, I said I would finish this story, and I will. Even after two months, I still knew I was going to come back. At first I was just busy, I was working a lot of hours and was tired from that, then I was in the middle of moving and I didn't have time to write. In the end, I had put it off for so long that when I had finally sat down to write this chapter, I could only get 800 words in before getting stuck.

I was looking forward to this chapter, but as soon as I got to the beginning of his fight with Sasuke, I drew a blank. I am in no way an expert on fight scenes, and since I wanted it to be good, I stopped writing so that I could think on it. I still don't really like the scene, but it's the best I've got.

Thank you for everyone who reviewed and checked in on the story for updates. I appreciate it all so much, in fact dvd142's review is what got me to start writing this week. I am going on a mission trip next week, so I won't have any chance to write before then, and I'm still in the middle of moving, so the next chapter isn't going to be immediately. Please have patience with me and know that I am going to finish this.

Thank you for reading and please review to let me know how the chapter was.