"Sasuke!" He's calling me again. He always seems to be calling for me these days and I can only seem to ignore him when he does. I can't help it. I don't want him to be hurt. I don't want him to be dragged into the darkness that I now reside in. But he keeps following me anyway.

"Why can't you just leave me alone?" I growl at him.

"I want you to come home with me." His eyes are pleading with me to just give up and follow him to this place that he claims to be home. It's not my home. It never was my home. Or maybe it was some time ago, but it's not my home anymore. It's nothing more than a village that contains many of my childhood memories. Those painful things that I have been ignoring ever since I left the confinement of society in Konoha.

"I've already told you Naruto," I shook my head. "I'm not going back there. I need to get power and I can't do that from Konoha." Why can't he understand that I don't want to go back? Why can't he just leave me alone and allow me to defeat my brother with the power that I gain from working under Orochimaru.

"I don't care," Naruto stepped forward. I think he's trying to gain my trust again. He won't be able to. I could never stop trusting him so he can't regain my trust. I just have to ignore his every word so that I can convince myself that what I'm doing with Orochimaru won't lead to my death. I don't really care. I never have. Orochimaru can do whatever the hell he wants with my body once I kill my brother. At least that's what I thought, but it always seems to be that every time Naruto comes to visit me my resolve wavers just a little bit more. I'm starting to not want to die. "I don't care if you want to become strong to defeat your brother. I don't care if you don't want to live in the village anymore. Just please don't stay with Orochimaru."

"He's the strongest ninja alive," I said. It was more to convince myself rather than Naruto. I need to convince myself or I might actually go with him this time.

"No he's not Sasuke," Naruto shakes his head sadly. "He's just a ninja that has stayed under everyone's radar for most of his life. Now that he's stepped forward, I don't think that he's going to remain the strongest ninja for very long. People will beat him. I bet that you could even beat him if you wanted to. I mean he doesn't even have arms."

"He's teaching me how to defeat my brother," I said.

"He's only teaching you random jutsus that will barely be any help against Itachi. The guy has the Mangekyou Sharingan for god's sake."

"What do you want me to do than?" I growled. "Go back to Konoha and hope that they teach me something worth my time. In case you didn't remember, I am a traitor to the village. They'll probably lock me up if they don't kill me first."

"They won't do that," Naruto tried to assure me. "The village loves you too much to lock you away for leaving them. They would want you back out on the streets immediately after you returned if you came home of your own free will." Then he muttered something that sounded a lot like, "Besides. I would never let them do that to you."

"Is that why you have been losing all of our battles," I clenched my fists. Lately I had thought that Naruto seemed to be holding back whenever we fought. I never really paid any attention to it because I thought that I was just imagining it so that I would feel better about always beating him. I guess I was just deceiving myself.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Naruto tried to say.

"Don't give me that," I yelled at him. "How strong have you really become?"

"I am the strongest ninja in all of Konoha," Naruto said. I always thought that those words coming from Naruto's mouth would be so much prouder than the words that I heard just now. Naruto seemed overly nervous to even divulge that much information to me.

"And you have been holding back this whole time," I growled.

"I didn't want to be the one to drag you back," Naruto said sadly.

"After all of this time that you claim to have trying to get me to return to Konoha and you haven't even actually tried." It was insulting to me that Naruto thought that he could get me to return without even fighting full force. How could he even assume that I would follow him of my own free will? He really is an idiot.

"If I brought you back to the village than you really would be locked up," Naruto said, "or killed. But if you came back on your own than you would have a chance of staying alive."

"I don't want to stay alive Naruto," I said. "I want to kill my brother, and you aren't helping me do that by bothering my practice every time you're nearby."

"I'm sorry Sasuke," Naruto said, "but I don't want Orochimaru to take your body because than you really wouldn't be able to kill your brother like you want to."

"Fight me," I growled. I needed to know how much power he really had. I needed to know if I had gotten any stronger. I needed to know if I could beat my brother.

"I'm sorry Sasuke," Naruto shook his head.

"Why not?" I yelled.

"I can't fight you anymore Sasuke," Naruto sighed.

"Why not?"

"Because Lady Tsunade said that the next time I see you I am ordered to either drag you back or kill you," Naruto explained.

"Isn't that what you want?" I asked. Isn't that what he's always wanted? Hasn't he always wanted to drag me back?

"I…" Naruto began, but he was interrupted by a female voice that I recognized to be Sakura's calling out his name. "I have to go now Sasuke," Naruto sighed. "I'll be back soon and next time I'll bring you home with me."

"I'm not going back to Konoha Naruto," I said again. "I will never go back." But he had already disappeared into the tree to find his teammates. The ones that I was no longer a part of. I don't even remember who took my place, but he seemed to be a good enough replacement for everyone. Naruto seemed to be the only one that still wants me to return. I admit that that thought hurts me somewhat. I wouldn't even be welcomed back into my own team if I tried to go back. Not that that really mattered in my true goal. My true goal required that I be alone. That is why I am alone, but why do I keep longing to join Naruto and Sakura to go on stupid missions once again?