Chapter Two
The raven haired ninja was on the run trying to get to Orochimaru but Naruto was trailing after him. "Why is he trying to follow me" Sasuke thought angrily.
"SASUKE" He yelled. Sasuke finally decided to stop and he turned around. Naruto lands on the ground standing in front of Sasuke.
"Why did you do this, Sasuke…Why?" Naruto asked his former teammate. But Sasuke shrugs off the comment.
"This isn't about us, but about me. I have my own path that I must follow. Doing so means I cannot associate with Konoha" Sasuke replied. In a moment of rage, Naruto jumps across the river and lands a hard punch to Sasuke's face. As Sasuke spits blood into Naruto's face. "I'll never grow stronger by remaining in Konoha" Sasuke replies.
"Orochimaru might give you power, but it will come at a price" Naruto counters.
"Doesn't Sasuke realize that Orochimaru only wants to use him as a container" Naruto thought to himself as he stares at Sasuke before him.
"It doesn't matter what Orochimaru does to me, so long as I accomplishes my goals" Sasuke retorts. Then Sasuke laughs as he reminds Naruto of their previous fight. Back then, Naruto was laughing. He knew how badly Naruto wanted to defeat him.
"Sasuke…you have changed" Naruto said as he looked at the raven haired teen as the fight progressed.
He starts pounding Naruto and with a hard punch to the gut, knocks Naruto backwards into the water below. With a moment to collect himself, Sasuke stares down at his hand, marveling at the new power he's acquired. He lets the seal regress and his face changes back to normal, but he can feel the power growing within him and is seduced by the possibilities of using the cursed seal to its fullest extent.
Naruto sinks further into the water as visions of their previous battle flood his mind. Sasuke's different now. He pulls himself to the water's surface and looks up at Sasuke. Suddenly, he rushes, hoping that a hard blow will be all it takes to knock some sense into his friend. The two fight in close range, exchanging punches and kicks. Sasuke lands a kick and grabs Naruto's supply pouch before pushing him back into the water.
Naruto aims a shurikan at Sasuke, who has the high ground advantage. Sasuke throws a kunai to deflect the projectile weapon and tosses another to take out a Naruto clone behind a rock. A few more quick movements and he uses Naruto's own supplies against him. He attaches wires to kunai and strategically tosses them to bind Naruto to the rock below.
"Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu!" Sasuke engulfs Naruto in a stream of flame. As Sasuke watches the fire burn, waiting to see the damages, Naruto flies out of the flames and lands a punch to Sasuke.
"Asshole" Naruto hissed as let's loose, punching Sasuke again and again until his knuckles are sore.
"If this is all you have, I'll be able to defeat you without the Sharingan" Sasuke taunts.
"Don't underestimate me" Naruto warns.
"Naruto you lack power and desire" Sasuke replied.
With Naruto in reach, he tosses him backwards off the cliff, does a kick, and sends Naruto free falling to the ground. He then tosses Naruto's supply bag. With visions of Itachi still in his mind, he recites the mantra he's been trying to convince himself of for so long - that he needs power and hatred to catch up.
Naruto picks up his supply pouch and faces Sasuke, now with Sharingan eyes.
"Kage Bunshin" Naruto yelled as he's clones come. But Naruto clones are no match for Sasuke, who spots the real Naruto and lands a hard uppercut, sending him flying backwards.
Sasuke quickly follows up with a stream of fire (Katon: Goukakyuu no jutsu) through the trees beside the river. Naruto walks out of the burning forest ready to fight seriously. Sasuke gets a few hits in before knocking Naruto backwards into the water.
Sasuke watches with Sharingan eyes as Naruto sinks into the water below. No matter what darkness lies ahead, he'll pursue it.
As Naruto lies at the bottom of the river, he recalls Neji's words - that Sasuke is lost within the darkness and that he must try to reach him.
Realizing that Sasuke's not playing around, Naruto asks Sasuke questions.
"Are we friends? Did our team mean anything?" Naruto asked Sasuke.
"Through those experiences, you have become my best friend. That's why there is meaning in defeating you" Sasuke replies. The comments confuse Naruto, who can't understand why a friend would want to fight him so badly, but he knows that he must seriously fight Sasuke if he wants to win.
Looking at the blonde all he could see is Hinata. This is the guy Hinata loves not him; she'll never love him it's always been Naruto. He frowns as he looked at the blonde. "Isn't this the moment you've been waiting for Naruto? Neither Kakashi nor Sakura can stop us now" Sasuke taunts the blonde haired ninja. Sasuke tosses a kunai, which Naruto deflects with a shurikan, and then powers up Chidori.
"I'm going to beat the hell out of you and drag you home" Naruto grumbles as he then Kage Bunshins to form Rasengan.
As the Naruto clones mold Rasengan, Sasuke's words haunt Naruto's memory. Why did Sasuke call him his closest friend? Regardless, Naruto will make sure that he ends it with this Rasengan. The boys rush at one another, power balls outstretched, and collide. An explosion engulfs them and both boys fall into the water below.
Sasuke is the first to pull himself to the water's surface. While he waits for Naruto to emerge, he remembers looking up at the mountain and seeing the back completely blown away. That was when he realized how strong Naruto was. As Naruto climbs to the surface, Sasuke's mind drifts to Kakashi's warning from three years back.
A third Chidori won't happen.
As Naruto crouches on the water's surface, Sasuke allows the seal to take over. Seeing that Naruto has tears in his eyes Sasuke starts talking to Naruto.
"Two first class ninjas should be able to read each other within the first few moments of a fight. But you're naïve. You haven't yet been able to read my attacks" Sasuke tells Naruto. Sasuke assumes attack mode.
"Katon: Housenka no jutsu" Sasuke yells as he start spitting fireballs at Naruto and then following up with a series of punches. Sasuke holds Naruto above the water with one arm while his free hand forms Chidori. He pulls back and hits Naruto on the shoulder. Blood splatters everywhere.
Sasuke pulls his hand out of Naruto's shoulder. Though Naruto was able to avoid a critical hit, his shoulder is still badly damaged so he won't be able to perform seals or Rasengan.
But Naruto fills with rage at the thought of Orochimaru taking Sasuke. He glows orange and the Kyuubi appears above him. Sasuke stares, horrified, as Naruto heals before him. More steadfast now, he makes a vow.
"I won't let Orochimaru have you, even if I have to break every bone in your arms and legs" Naruto vows.
Sasuke watches as Naruto finishes powering up.
"What are you?" Sasuke asked while staring at Naruto.
"Your friend. That's why I won't let you go" Naruto replies. Naruto takes the offense, punching the water and then rushing at Sasuke. He lands several punches and kicks before hammer fisting Sasuke into the water below. When Sasuke floats to the water's surface, Naruto doesn't give him time to breathe before skating atop the water's surface and continuing his assault. Sasuke blows flames, but Naruto blocks them and again lands on top of his friend. They fight underwater. On land Naruto slams him into the cliff wall and asked Sasuke a question.
"Have you come to your senses yet? If not I'll continue to pound away" Naruto hissed.
"SHUT-UP, How can you possibly understand? You never had siblings or parents. You were alone from the start, so you don't understand what it's like to lose them" Sasuke yells as he then rushes at Naruto, pushing him off the cliff.
"I may not know anything about parents or siblings, sometimes when I'm with Iruka-sensei, I wonder if that's what it's like to have a dad. And when I'm with you, I wonders if that's what having a brother is like" Naruto yells back.
Sasuke stares at Naruto in a surprised way. "Why would you go this far for me?" Sasuke asked. "Our friendship was one of the first bonds I ever had. That's why I'll stop you" Naruto replies. This reply triggers new respect for Naruto as he faces Naruto, his Sharingan evolves to the full 3 marks.
"Then I will break this bond" Sasuke replies. Now that Sasuke's Sharingan has evolved, he can see Naruto's patterns of attack and easily dodges them, giving him the advantage in the fight. These new eyes allow him to conserve chakra so he doesn't have to rely on the seal, which is very chakra intensive. As Naruto takes another hit and falls backwards into the water, he realizes Sasuke can now read his movements perfectly.
Naruto clones burst out of the water, but Sasuke dodges all attacks and easily defeats the clones. Naruto then forms a clone chain and pulls Sasuke under the water. Using his clone chain as a whip, he smacks Sasuke into the cliff above.
"Katon! Ryuuka no jutsu" Sasuke counters as he burns up the remaining clones. As lava meets the water, the Kyuubi awakens. Naruto looks up at his friend in awe.
"That technique was amazing" Naruto utters. Sasuke pulls away from Naruto.
"Shut-up" Sasuke tells Naruto before tossing him backwards. He catches Naruto in mid air and guides him to the ground head first in a pile driver. Naruto's limp body rolls off the bank and falls into the water as Sasuke dry heaves on the shore, thinking he just killed his teammate.
If it had been anyone else, they'd be dead for sure, but not Naruto, who has the Kyuubi to protect him. "You're weak and should be thankful, the Kyuubi lends you his chakra and animates your body" Sasuke tells Naruto. Sasuke stares in amazement as Naruto stands up and punches him in the face. Naruto then assumes a fox stance and sends a tidal wave at Sasuke. He follows up by smacking the crap out of Sasuke, whose Sharingan isn't powerful enough to see the movements of Kyuubi's chakra.
Sasuke spits fire, but the Naruto fox dodges all, using his chakra to protect himself. Sasuke decides to keep his distance, but Naruto sends a massive fox hand to grab him. Sasuke dodges, but Naruto counters with water, washing Sasuke onto the beach where Naruto's fox hand traps Sasuke against the wall. Sensing he has no other choice, Sasuke goes level 2 cursed seal. His hair turns blue and a black star forms on his nose.
Naruto rushes at Sasuke, who has just transformed into level 2 cursed seal. He picks up a fist full of dirt and tosses it, but when the smoke clears, Sasuke's new wing has shielded him from the blow. He quickly swats off Naruto and a matching wing grows from his opposite shoulder. Still, Sasuke's not too keen to stay in this state for long for fear the cursed seal will take over and he'll lose himself forever.
As the two techniques connect, there's an explosion. Sasuke reaches into Naruto's chest while Naruto manages to scratch Sasuke's forehead protector. The chakra is so great that even Jiraiya, who's still a ways back, can feel it. The chakra ball engulfs them and everything fades into the multicolored light. Inside, the boys float amongst the energy.
When the technique finishes, Naruto Sasuke is standing over an unconscious Sasuke, a ray of sunlight highlighting Sasuke's face. The sky opens up and it starts to downpour. Naruto is suddenly overcome with pain in his chest and coughs up blood. He falls to his knees and crouches directly above Sasuke to terms with what just happened.
"I told you…that I won't let you leave" He murmured to himself right before he fainted. Kakashi came as he looked at the two boys. He was thankful that Naruto prevented Sasuke from leaving. He sighed to himself. "I'm sorry that I couldn't get here sooner" He whispered to both boys. He picked both of them up as he walked back to the village to take them both to the hospital.
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"Sasuke-kun is he going to be okay?" The pink haired girl asked as she looked at her teacher. Kakashi looked away from her.
"He's in critical care right now…" Tears came from Sakura's eyes. "Oh Sasuke-kun…" She cried.
"What about Naruto? Is he going to be okay?"
"He's just fine…he is resting as we speak" He stated. Sakura nodded she was happy that Naruto was okay but she was worried about Sasuke.
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A week passed since Naruto and Sasuke's fight and Sakura has been visiting both Naruto and Sasuke. Naruto was now up and walking around but the doctors weren't going to let him go home until the end of the week. As for Sasuke; who was still in critical care was going to stay in the hospital for another two weeks.
Sakura stared at Sasuke. "Sasuke-kun, why did you try to leave? You could always get trained by Kakashi-sensei not Orochimaru he is the enemy. Well I know if you were awake you wouldn't want to hear this so I'll talk about something else" She smiled as she held his hand.
"Well today I'm going to do some training to become stronger…maybe if I'm stronger you might like me more" She blushed but a she had a sad expression on her face. "Sasuke-kun you…I mean I like you and actually love you" She blushed and she let out exhaled. "I love you Sasuke-kun and I always have but…you never seemed interested in me. I tried everything to get your attention but it doesn't seem to work…when I hug you don't like it when I held your hand that time you didn't want me to. It hurts me Sasuke-kun it really does…to have you reject me like that" Tears slowly came out her eyes.
"I have to stop crying over little things like this" She smiled as she looked at him. "I'm going to come everyday to visit you Sasuke-kun to keep you company. Naruto came yesterday to see you…he feels really bad for putting in the hospital like this and knows when you wake up that your going to be mad at him…but he's worried about you as much as I am"
Sakura looked at him and noticed at her was frowning in his sleep. "S-Sasuke-kun? Are you waking up?" She scooted closer towards him.
"I have to kill him…Itachi-niisan…why?" He said in his sleep as tears ran down his face. Sakura eyes widened. "…Sasuke-kun…"
"Don't worry I'm here for you Sasuke-kun…I'm here right by your side" She held his hand tighter.
The blonde looked at Sakura and narrows his eyes in sadness. "…Sakura-chan…" He whispered as he left to go back to his room.
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Days went by and Sakura continued visiting Sasuke. Naruto was now out of the hospital and stopped by every now and then to see Sasuke. "Sasuke-kun I brought you a flower…I hope you like it" She set the flower in a vase on the nightstand beside him.
"S-Sakura?" Sasuke said in groggy voice. Sakura looked at Sasuke with wide eyes.
"S-Sasuke-kun!" He opened his eyes to see Sakura looking at him with tears coming down her cheeks. The pink haired girl jumped on Sasuke. "Oh Sasuke-kun I'm glad you're awake…you've been sleep for ten days" Sasuke eyes widened.
"T-Ten days? Wait what am I doing here? Did the dobe do this to me? Where is he? Where the hell is he?" He yelled as he bolted up but hissed in pain because of the pain of the seal on his shoulder.
"Sasuke-kun please your still haven't recovered" She said in a worried tone. He looked at her and noticed the worried look on her face so he decided to relax since he was in pain. He looked at his nightstand. "You brought that flower?" He asked as he looked at the white flower. She blushed and nodded.
He looked at her blushing face. "Thank you Sakura" He said as he looked at her. She nodded. It was quiet in the room until Naruto and Kakashi cam in.
"Ah he's finally up" Kakashi said as he looked at Sasuke in shock. Sasuke and Naruto looked at each and then looked away from each other frowning.
Kakashi looked at the two boys and sighed. "So did you just wake up Sasuke?" Sasuke nodded. "Ah I see…"
"When am I leaving this hospital?" He asked.
"Well you're still not in good shape to be walking around the village…you may be in here for about another week or so" Kakashi explained. Sasuke frowned. "Another week in this place…I can't stay here I have to leave" He thought as he frowned.
"Why did you ask? Are you thinking about leaving again? Because if you are I have no problem knocking more sense into that head of yours" Naruto hissed as he glared at Sasuke.
"Naruto!" Sakura said in shock while frowning. Sasuke glared at Naruto.
"What I do is none of you business…if I want to leave I'm going to leave…if I want to stay I'm going to stay" He retorted. Both boys glared at each other.
"That's enough you two" Kakashi snapped at the two young boys. They both looked at they're sensei but they both remained silent.
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The female Hyuuga was starting to get worried about Sasuke. She hasn't since him since that day they were talking. She had thought that maybe he was on a mission but she had seen both Naruto and Sakura the other day. "Maybe his at his apartment" She thought as she decided to walk to his apartment. As she was walking she was stopped by a girl with short brown hair.
"You're Hyuuga Hinata right…the one that friends with Sasuke-kun" Hinata slowly nodded her head. She looked at the girl and could tell the she was a Sasuke fan girl. Last time a girl asked her this question they tried to beat up Hinata just for hanging around Sasuke but of course Hinata defended herself and defeated the girls.
"H-Hai I'm Hyuuga Hinata" The girl with white eyes replied.
"Well if you're looking for Sasuke-kun he's in the hospital" Hinata eyes widened. "He was in a really bad fight with Naruto, Sasuke-kun almost died. You see Naruto was trying to stop Sasuke-kun from leaving the village"
"Wait what? Leaving the village?" Hinata asked as she looked at the young girl.
"Yeah…Sasuke-kun was trying to leave to village but I'm not sure what for all I know is that Naruto stopped him from leaving" Tears came to Hinata's eyes.
"He's at the hospital as we speak…I'm sure if he's up he would want to see you" She smiled. Hinata looked at the girl in shock. Was Hinata wrong about this girl? Was she really a Sasuke fan girl? Sasuke fan girls are never kind to her.
"Why are you telling me this? I mean most girls of you who like Sasuke won't tell me things like this"
"Well you are Hyuuga Hinata I don't want to mess with you…you're from the strongest clans in our village and besides you are too kind anyway" She smiled. "Now go see Sasuke-kun" Hinata nodded as she rushed to the hospital.
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"Sakura and Naruto let me speak with you for a minute" Kakashi looked at Sasuke.
"We'll be right back Sasuke" Sasuke grunted. He could care less if they came back or not he just wanted to leave to hospital and leave the village.
As the three walked out his room Kakashi stopped to look at his two students. "Listen I'm telling you this now before he gets out the hospital" Both Naruto and Sakura looked at their sensei.
"What is it sensei?" The pink haired ninja asked.
"I want the both of you to keep an eye on Sasuke because he could be planning on leaving again. Who knows what's going on in his head…" They both nodded as they continued to listen to him.
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"Uchiha Sasuke what room is he in" Hinata said in a rush.
"He's in room 21a but you have to sign in first…HEY WAIT YOU HAVE TO SIGN IN" The nurse yelled but it fell on deaf ears because Hinata had already left.
Sasuke sat up getting ready to get out of the bed when Hinata came in the room. She stood at Sasuke's door with tears running down her cheeks.
"H-Hinata what are-"Before he could even finish sentence Hinata has ran towards him and buried her head on his shirt crying. "Why were you trying to leave Sasuke-kun? Where were you trying to go? You can't leave me Sasuke-kun, if you leave I'll be alone…I don't want to be alone" Sasuke eyes was wide as he listened to her confession of her feelings for him as she cried on his shirt.
"I love you too much too see you leave…" He looked even more shocked by her confession as he held her in his arms. "Please d-don't leave me alone…I don't want you to leave me" She cried.
Sasuke held the crying girl closer towards him as he rested his head on top of hers. "I won't leave you then…" She looked up at him. "Are you telling the truth Sasuke-kun because you told me that you won't leave my side but yet you tried to leave to village" She cried.
"I'm sorry I told you that…but this time I promise I won't leave you…I'll stay with you" She looked up at him and smiled. "You know it's funny…you say you love me…I feel the same way about you as well" He smiled as he looked at her.
"Y-You love me?" He nodded his head.
"I always loved you but I never said anything because I knew that you…liked the dobe…" He looked away from her.
"Sasuke-kun…I always loved you…I may have a crush on Naruto-kun but it's always been you the one that I loved" She confessed while smiling. He looked at her smiling face. His eyes widened as he looked at her. He put his head down which cast a shadow over his eyes; and a blush almost similar to Hinata's appeared on his face.
"Hinata can I kiss you?" he asked while not looking at her.
She blushed as she looked at him. "N-Nani?" She asked.
"Can I kiss you?" He repeated.
She looked at him and smiled. "H-Hai…you may" She blushed. He looked at her as they both leaned forward as they're lips collided. It was a soft kiss not too long or not too short; it was just perfect. When they parted they noticed that Kakashi, Naruto and Sakura were all standing at his hospital door with a shocked look on they're faces.
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Okay how did you like this chapter? Well what's going to happen next? How will Naruto and Sakura react to the scene they just saw? Well they aren't going to be to happy about what they just seen but if you want more details read the next chapter. Please leave reviews.