Title: Blind Love.
Author: TheSweetestKisses.
Pairings: SasuNaruSasu. More as the story progresses.
Rating: NC-17 in future chapters.

Disclaimer: Naruto, Sasuke and their seemingly unlimited supplies of kunai and shuriken belong to Masashi Kishimoto. A certain half-assed fan fiction is an entirely different story.

Review replies at the end of the story!

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Chapter two: Open your eyes.

Then- as in the italicizes in Genjutsu.

Sakura stumbled, and gasped, as they saw what Genma had tried to warn them about. "What is that?" Sakura whispered to Naruto. Naruto could barely hear her, as the enormous snake that had demolished the forest in front of them hissed none too kindly. It felt surreal, but at the same time Naruto was glad. He knew that he shouldn't be, seeing as Genma was somewhere out there, hurt, but he couldn't help it.

After four years, hade he finally grasped a clue? Did this mean that he could finally find Orochimaru's hideout?

"It's.. Orochimaru's." Naruto said calmly. For a few seconds the two ANBUs were completely silent, until a grin spread on Naruto's face, though Sakura couldn't see it because of the ANBU-mask. "We've got him! We've finally got him! Sakura, I won't need to break that promise after all(1)!"

Sakura stared at Naruto, then the snake, then turned her eyes back to Naruto. "Are you completely out of your mind? Forget that! Our mission is to protect the mizukage's child and wife from Akatsuki! All we've got to do is to guide them to Konoha! There is no way that we can risk our mission because of something like this!"

Naruto stared at Sakura in disbelief. "But Sasuke-"

"We cannot abandon the mission!" Sakura hissed lowly as the snake started to slowly turn its head in their direction.

Naruto was shocked. Stunned. Of all the people, he thought Sakura was one o the few that were with him on this bringing back Sasuke-deal. Sakura, who had once been so in love with Sasuke that she would do anything for him. Yet here Naruto was, and he found himself alone.

"We can't abandon Sasuke!"

Sakura actually ripped her mask off her face and glared at Naruto nervously as the snake got closer, a figure perched on its head. She knew that she could take them out, but only if her blonde captain gave her permission or ordered her to. 'Dammit,' Sakura thought. 'It killed Genma, what more do you need, Naruto?'

"Those who abandon their missions are scum!"

"Those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum!" Naruto shot back.

"Sasuke isn't a comrade anymore!" Sakura sneered. "if this really is Orochimaru, we must take him out! Naruto, he's an S-rank criminal in the bingo-book, it's our job and duty as members of the ANBU-squad to kill missing-nins, and you cannot betray your village because of a stupid boy who decided to dedicate his life to getting revenge!"

"It's Sasuke; he's just a bit confused!" Naruto was being stubborn and childish, and he knew it. But dammit, they were talking about Sasuke-teme! Not some ordinary loser who wanted a bit of power! Sasuke was also a member of team 7, he was their friend- and Naruto couldn't believe Sakura would hold Sasuke's loneliness and confusion against her own friend.

"Naruto.." Sakura sighed. "Why can't you accept that he is probably dead?" Sakura whispered.

Naruto froze. Of course, the thought had come to him many times before. One year too late. Four years had, in fact, gone by since Shikamaru, Neji, Choji, Kiba and himself had gone on a retrieval mission, and failed.

Orochimaru changed container every third year.

But Naruto wasn't willing to give up yet. If he gave up, it would mean giving up on not only Sasuke as a comrade, but Sasuke as a fellow Konoha ninja and citizen. If he gave up on the people of Konoha, how could he ever become hokage? That was why Naruto would always try his hardest, push himself to the limits; if needed, he would even fight until he died for them- even if they only glared at him in return. Because their dreams meant as much to Naruto as his own dream did. If Sasuke was lost, Naruto would help him find his way home again.

Back to Konoha.

Back to Naruto.

"Sakura." His voice was firm, like it always was when he wanted to make it clear that he wouldn't back down. "Go back to the camp. I will take this fight somewhere else."

Sakura's heart sank. "Naruto, you know I can't let you do that."

"Sakura.." Naruto said with an amazingly bright smile that reached his eyes. It may have been hidden behind the beautifully painted mask, but Sakura could hear it in his voice as he spoke. "I'm going to get Sasuke back. Now GO- that's an order." And before Sakura could come with any more objections, Naruto had formed a thin ball of Kyuubi's chakra around the snake, its master and himself, before quickly making some hand seals and transporting away.

Sakura closer her eyes and sighed. Without Naruto, they would have to move faster; if the Akatsuki wanted to take out the mizukage's wife and child, Sakura, Kiba and two lowly chuunin probably wouldn't do.

-

Suddenly, Naruto and the others were on a enormous field. Naruto was thinking strategically; he wouldn't be able to hide anywhere, but neither would the enemy.

"So.." A cold voice said. "You finally decided to stop chatting, ne?"

Naruto kept quiet as he concentrated a small amount of chakra to his eyes, forcing them to adjust to the darkness. He decided to play along, and forced chakra to his throat, making his voice much more different from how it used to be, seeing as Orochimaru would probably recognize Naruto's own voice.

"Konoha ninja, eh?" the man laughed coldly. "They were always worthless."

Something soared through the air and towards Naruto, who side stepped gracefully. But as he glanced at the object on the ground, his blood froze.

Genma's headband, bloodied up and scratched. He turned his gaze back to the person on top of the snake.

"Orochimaru," Naruto said coldly. "I have got no business with you- just tell me where to find Uchiha and I will make your death quick and, well, painful."

The man laughed. Naruto couldn't see what he was doing, but suddenly the snake disappeared with a low hiss and the man was in a crouched position approximately 50 feet from where Naruto himself was standing. Naruto still couldn't see his face- but that didn't matter. He was sure that he knew who it was.

"Uchiha? I heard there was an Uchiha with the Akatsuki. Maybe you should try there." came the amused voice of the man. It was deep and cold- a voice that Naruto recognized. "But first.. I need some information about Konoha."

"You know which one I'm talking about," Naruto growled, ignoring what the man said about Konoha. He started to build up strategies in his mind. He should first of all try to force Orochimaru to use up all of his chakra, something that Naruto didn't have to worry about since Ero-sennin(2) taught him how to use the fox demon's chakra. Then he would have to somehow corner him- after that, he would just have to improvise.

Naruto wasn't stupid. He knew that Orochimaru was one of the legendary three sannin of Konoha, which meant that he was up for a real fight, which he didn't know the outcome of, and the poorly thought out plan didn't really help him any.

"You mean.. Sasuke," the man said oddly.

Suddenly, the man was rapidly performing hand seals. Quick! Seal of the serpent, ram, monkey, boar, horse- before the last seal had been made, Naruto knew what Jutsu the man was trying to perform. "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" the man shouted and suddenly, enormous flames were flying towards Naruto.

Thanks to his quick reflexes, Naruto was able to jump above the flames- but then he was falling. He did the first thing that came to his mind. "Kage bunshin no Jutsu!" Two clones appeared, grabbing his arms and throwing him to the side before disappearing in a puff of smoke as they touched the fire.

Naruto turned, observing the man. 'He is too fast; he's faster than geji-mayu(3).' Even his trained eyes weren't able to completely follow the man's movements, and although Naruto wouldn't go as far as to call himself slow, he knew he definitely couldn't achieve the same speed as this man.

Smoke was everywhere. Suddenly, the man disappeared from Naruto's field of vision. Naruto crouched down. The smaller he got, the less of a chance would it be that Naruto's vital organs were pierced by a kunai.

Suddenly, the air was heavy. Naruto found it harder and harder to breathe. He stood up, hoping that stretching his lungs would force more oxygen down his throat, but it didn't. He then ripped his mask off his face, but that didn't help him very much either. 'Dammit, he must have preformed a water jutsu' Naruto thought.

Quiet. Everything was too quiet. Suddenly, he dodged, jumped, sidestepped. He grabbed a passing kunai and started to deflect kunai and shuriken.

He was everywhere, or so it seemed. Weapons came from all directions. Jutsus flew at Naruto, who was having a hard time even dodging them.

"Who.." Naruto deflected a shuriken. "Are.." chakra needles flew at him, and Naruto had to jump out of their way. "You?"

"Don't tell me you've forgotten my face already, Orochimaru." Naruto knew that the man was beginning to run out of chakra. 'Soon, I'll-"

Suddenly, Naruto couldn't speak. He couldn't think, he couldn't even move.

There, in front of him, stood Sasuke. Breathing heavily, with moist skin. A kunai was pressed against Narutos throat. Sasuke seemed to glare at him with closed eyes. Naruto decided that it was the fog that messed up his senses

"I asked you a question," he said. Was it really Sasuke? No. It was Orochimaru in Sasuke's body.

"Sasuke.." Naruto choked on his words.

Sasuke's breath hitched. What..?

Then Naruto remembered.

He had lt his guard down and released the chakra he had been concentrating on his throat.

And before the fight had a chance to really begin, it was over. Naruto found himself staring at Sasuke's hands. 'Too fast!' Naruto's mind thought in a fraction of a second. Sasuke let go of the kunai, then started performing hand seals at an outrageous speed, forcing Naruto into a world created by genjutsu before his kunai even hit the ground.

Before Naruto knew what had happened, he was waking up in his own, fake apartment, having no memory of what had been going on just seconds earlier.

--

Now- as in where we left off in Genjutsu.

"Kai!"

Naruto stood still as he heard Sakura shriek angrily. Konoha suddenly got very blurry, then dissolved. Now he wasn't in Konoha, or even the field. He was in the woods again.

"Impressive," Sasu… No, Orochimaru said. "How did you find out? I thought I erased your memory perfectly."

Naruto smirked coldly as he turned around to face him. His smile faltered as he saw Sasuke's body, leaning against a tree, keeping his eyes closed.

Naruto brought his hand down to the shuriken-holster tied to his right thigh. Why did he have his eyes closed? Did he have a death wish or something?

"Well," Naruto said. He jumped up into a tree, and at the same time threw three shuriken at Sasuke. But he was gone in an instant, making Naruto's shuriken hit the tree he had been leaning against. Naruto continued. "A perfect genjutsu is supposed to attack all five senses. So, first of all, touch." He carefully scanned his surroundings. "When I ruffled my hair just after I woke up, I found that something was missing. I suppose you wouldn't know that I always wear my green nightcap while sleeping." Naruto continued talking, hoping that it would draw Orochimaru closer to him.

He turned around quickly as he felt someone's presence- there! He threw his shuriken. It was easily dodged, but the shuriken that was in the shadow of the first one slashed his throat open. "Second of all.."

Sasuke's bleeding body disappeared in a puff of smoke, and a slashed log fell to the ground from the branch it had been standing at. Replacement technique. Damn.

"Second of all, hearing. I have never, ever, heard the laughter of a child sound so fake."

"Chikushou(4)!" Sasuke cursed. "I hate kids!" There. The sound came from a bush on the ground. Naruto threw another shuriken, but what turned out to be only a shadow replication only smirked and dissolved.

"Third, smell." Naruto quickly formed hand seals. "Sakura-chan wasn't wearing the perfume she usually wears. I gave it to her as a birthday gift." Naruto smiled and preformed the last seal, the seal of the serpent, and closed his eyes. Suddenly needles of chakra shot out of his chakra openings, piercing everything that they touched. He couldn't have survived that, Naruto thought. But he was soon proven wrong.

"Go ahead, Naruto-kun."

Dammit! How did he survive that? The only place where there aren't many chakra openings is... Above! As Naruto once again preformed hand seals, he continued explaining. "Fourth, taste. You didn't really think that you could fool me with your shitty genjutsu-ramen, did you, old geezer?"

He then faced the sky and smiled coldly as he drew in a breath and gathered chakra in his chest. "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" All of the brances above him were turned into ashes.

"Tsk tsk, you don't think that you could actually beat me with my own clan's special jutsu, did you?"

Naruto's heart stopped.

He's lying! He isn't Sasuke!

"Stop pretending to be Sasuke!" Naruto yelled. It made his blood boil- to think that Orochimaru had.. or was it really Orochimaru?

Naruto had made a mistake that a ninja should never make; he had showed him his weakness. Naruto had, like all other Konoha ninja, undergone months of training to hide his emotions. Emotions are one's greatest weakness on the battlefield. That was common knowledge. But dammit! No one had ever prepared him for something like this!

"Why would I pretend?" Behind. Suddenly, Naruto could see his opponent's movements more clearly than he had only seconds before. Moving much faster than he had only moments ago, Naruto whipped around, and Sasuke had barely been able to dodge the kunai that was embedded in the tree branch next to his head. Naruto could smell blood, but he knew that the wound he had inflicted wasn't fatal.

Naruto was angry. His eyes were tinted red. His pupils were dark slits. His nails had grown longer, the whisker marks on his cheeks had grown thicker. He still hadn't lost control over Kyuubi- but he was sure he soon would. "Stop acting like a coward!" he growled at the woods. "You're only keeping a distance because you're scared, aren't you? Orochimaru?"

By saying that name, Naruto hoped it would be more true. If it really was Sasuke, then..

Suddenly, Naruto couldn't move. It wasn't because he was paralyzed. It wasn't because he was hurt. Naruto concluded that really, nothing was wrong with his body.

It was the chakra strings that had wound up around him that were the problem.

"You won't get out of there." Sasuke, or Orochimaru- Naruto didn't know what to believe anymore- moved sluggishly, jumping from a tree branch high above Naruto to one right in front of him. "So there is no need to even try. Besides, I won't hurt you."

Naruto stared at him. His face.. It held a painful resemblance to the old Sasuke, even though he had visibly matured during the four years that had passed. His eyes were still closed. Naruto wondered if he had been fighting all this time with his eyes closed, and if he had- how?

"I should start with telling you that since, as you have probably already guessed, I'm starting to run a bit low on chakra."

How can he dodge, attack, fight if his eyes are closed?

"Second of all, it wasn't really information of any importance to the village that I wished to obtain." Naruto bit his lip as the low voice continued speaking. Naruto found it hard to concentrate.

That means that he's either moving based on intuition, hearing or.. chakra! That's it! He uses them combined! He sees my chakra.. But if there are more Narutos, then..

"I suggest you open your eyes, Orochimaru." But he didn't listen. Something sharp. I need something sharp.. yes, perfect!

"Third. I would appreciate it if you'd stop calling me Orochimaru."

Naruto frowned, but continued concentrating on angling his Kyuubi claw right.

"Fourth. I'm going to leave you here."

Naruto closed his eyes, biting into his lip so hard that it started bleeding. Sasuke..

Yes! Naruto's Kyuubi- strengthened claws finally cut through the end of one string. Of course Sasuke noticed, but before he had a chance to disappear Naruto made a hand seal and focused on concentrating the right amount of chakra. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he screamed in his mind.

Four shadow replications appeared in front of Sasuke, who didn't move, didn't look surprised, and he didn't even open his eyes. But it was a part of Naruto's plan.

"You don't know which one is the real one, do you?" one of Naruto's shadow replications said, as the real Naruto went to stand among them.

"I'm telling you, open your eyes!" another said.

"Or are you afraid to see me?" the real Naruto spat.

Sasuke sighed. Then he disappeared.

The different Narutos immediately got into fighting stances, forming a circle so all angles were under surveillance. When did Sasuke achieve such great speed?

Suddenly, it came to an end. A neck broke, a kunai pierced a skull, a shuriken took out a lung, and a kick broke two ribs. Left was the real Naruto, eyes wide as all visible traces of the Kyuubi faded away.

"Don't be stupid. I can feel based on chakra which one is the real one."

Then it came to Naruto's mind.

He quickly retrieved a kunai from the holster tied to his thigh and threw it at Sasuke, who was forced to dodge. But it had served its purpose as distraction. "Bunshin no Jutsu!" In the time span of five seconds, Naruto's chakra was masked, and Sasuke was surrounded by a large amount plain replications.

"How about now?" Naruto said.

Naruto knew that Sasuke was having a hard time. Without chakra, which ordinary replications didn't have, movement would be much harder. Chakra was easy to track, but Sasuke wouldn't be able to win over Naruto based on hearing or feeling their presences, because it was too vague.

"Open your eyes, Sasuke," one of the replications said calmly. Sasuke didn't.

"Dammit Sasuke! Don't go easy on me- I know you've been doing it all of this time! I've proven to you that I'm not weak- now open your god damn eyes!"

Mere seconds later, the replications picked up the shuriken and kunai that Naruto had thrown earlier. Since chakra fades, and replications are unable to leave chakra traces, Sasuke wasn't able to dodge them as well as he had before. He was pinned to a large tree by his shoulders and clothes. It probably hurt, but the only visible sign of distress that showed on Sasuke's face was his tilted eyebrows and his tightly pressed together lips.

Naruto was fuming. He walked up to Sasuke as the replications disappeared and pressed his hand against Sasuke's throat.

"Look me in the eyes, Sasuke," Naruto said, clenching his fingers around the assumed to be Sasuke's throat. Sasuke choked and slowly opened his eyes.

"You thought it would be easy, didn't you, Sasuke? Well now you know that I am a worthy opponent, a worthy teammate and a god damn worthy friend. Now look me in the eyes, Sasuke!" Naruto yelled more forcefully. He raised his other hand, grabbed Sasuke's chin and forced him to face Naruto fully.

Unprepared for what he would see, Naruto gasped and his grip loosened as he involuntarily stumbled back. Those eyes...

"Sasuke.. you.. y-you're blind."

---

(I know, this chapter was pretty boring / I hope I didn't disappoint you all too much. I've only had time to write in-between classes and such, but I really tried to make it seem.. well.. not rushed. And I'm sorry if there were any confusion regarding the time skips. If you found anything odd or such, please don't hesitate to email me or drop a review:P Anyway!)

(1) The 'promise of a lifetime' that Naruto made to Sakura about bringing Sasuke back to Konoha.
(2) Ero-sennin, as most of you already know, is pervy-sennin Jiraiya.
(3) Geji-mayu is fuzzy-eyebrows, otherwise known as Rock Lee.
(4) Chikushou means 'damn' or 'dammit', or so I've been told.

AND IF YOU WERE CONFUSED BY THE WHOLE OROCHIMARU/SASUKE DEAL:
Orochimaru wanted to transfer his soul to Sasukes body or whatever, you guys remember? He did it to another person right before he got his hand on Sasuke, and it would take three years before he would be able to use that Jutsu again. So, Naruto isn't sure if Sasuke's body contains Sasuke's own soul, or Orochimaru's. But towards the end he started using Sasuke's own name! le gasp.