Disclaimer: Okay, so for Halloween, I went trick or treating as Masashi Kishimoto, so can I say that I owned Naruto for a little bit? No? Oh well. I don't own him.

Author's Note: Truth be told, I wrote this the other day right after I posted the last one. I felt so bad for all of you having to wait so long for such a crappy chapter that I decided to give you guys something good, and I tried to make it as quick as possible.

Chapter Thirteen:

I had to fight to stay conscious. I had just seen Sasuke again - I couldn't faint. Summoning the last of my strength, I opened my eyes and stood up.

Orochimaru must have jumped back in the few seconds while I was out, and Sakura and Sasuke were ready to battle. Itachi and Kabuto appeared next to Orochimaru.

"Brother," Sasuke said with venom in his voice. "I will kill you this time."

"Kabuto," Orochimaru began, "kill the girl."

Sasuke and Itachi began to battle while Kabuto and Sakura battled, leaving me to deal with Orochimaru.

He turned to face me. With his sword in his hand, he stared into my eyes with pure bloodlust until we heard a blood curdling scream from Kabuto. I turned my head sharply, and I saw Sakura's hands in the ground, and a few meters ahead of her was a giant arm made out of rock which was squeezing Kabuto.

Sakura shifted her hands underground, and the rock hand let go of Kabuto before swatting his falling body across the clearing. She pulled her hands out of the ground and sharply penetrated it again, sending a wave of rocks through the ground, heading straight for Kabuto's fallen body.

"Don't ever underestimate me," Sakura said.

"K-Kabuto," Orochimaru whimpered in horror at the limp body of his partner. "You're going to pay for that."

Sasuke and Itachi continued to battle, and it looked like Sasuke had the upper hand with his Fire Style: Flaming Kunai Jutsu. I turned to Orochimaru, who took his Sword of Kusanagi and charged at Sakura. She knelt to the ground and put her hands in the ground.

"Ninja Art: Earth Manipulation Jutsu!" The ground began to shoot up stalagmites trying to hit Orochimaru, but he continued to dodge while making his way to Sakura. I had to do something, but I was still pretty beat up from battling before.

I ran to help Sakura, but Orochimaru got to her first. He stabbed her with the Sword of Kusanagi, but she turned to stone, and the sword was stuck in the rock. Sakura came out from the bushes and put her hands in the ground again.

"A Rock Clone!" Orochimaru snarled. He released the sword to flee, but Sakura erected a dome around him, preventing his escape. I turned to see Itachi and Sasuke fighting. Itachi was beginning to turn things around with his water jutsu prevailing over Sasuke's fire jutstu. I decided that since Sakura had Orochimaru under control, I'd help Sasuke.

I had to summon the last of the Fox's chakra to make myself useful in battle, but it was worth it. I raced to the Uchiha battle just in time. Itachi had grabbed Sasuke and thrown him to the ground.

"Wind Style: Whirlwind Ball Jutsu!" I yelled. The giant ball of wind knocked into Itachi, sending him flying.

"Stop interfering!" Sasuke yelled. "I have to kill him myself to avenge my clan!"

"Let me help you! You don't need to do this alone!" I shouted back.

"It isn't your clan to avenge," he said before doing a handsign. "But thanks for your jutsu. Fire Style: Flaming Whirlwind Ball Jutsu!" I guess when your mentor was Kakashi, you become a grade A copycat. He released a ball of fiery wind just like mine just seconds ago. Instead of blowing Itachi away, it consumed him, leaving him in a prison of fire as he screamed. He tried to perform a water style jutsu, but he couldn't.

"Help!" Sakura shrieked from behind me. We both turned around to see Orochimaru holding the Sword of Kusanagi against Sakura's neck. I looked at the dome that had imprisoned him and I wasn't all that surprised to see that he had broken it into pebbles.

"Sakura!" I yelled. I ran towards them while Sasuke focused himself on finishing off Itachi.

"One more step and she dies," Orochimaru said with a smile.

"Fine by me," I said, causing Sakura and Orochimaru to look at me like I was crazy. Okay, maybe that was a stupid bluff to make, but their shocked faces allowed me to send a clone of mine to sneak up behind him.

I couldn't do anything drastic because he was too close to Sakura. I needed to take control of the situation, and fast. I pulled out a kunai and used wind style jutsu to dull the blade. "Why don't I take care of that for you?" I asked, throwing the dulled kunai at Sakura. It barely pierced her skin, but it shocked Orochimaru enough that my clone was able to attack

"Rasengan!" I/he yelled, pushing the ball of flowing chakra into Orochimaru's back, sending him flying across the field. I ran over to Sakura to make sure she was okay, but she smiled and told me to finish him off. She did some medical ninjutsu and her arm healed within seconds.

My clone ran to pick up the sword that Orochimaru dropped, and he threw it to me. I made him disappear before running towards Orochimaru, who had just picked himself up. I ran, ready to run the sword right through him, but I was stopped when he grabbed the blade.

"You will never be able to kill me," he said gripping the blade. He sent me a creepy smile that made me wonder if he's a registered sex offender. Quite frankly, I don't think it would surprise anyone. I smiled back at him when he realized what I had done, and the look of horror on his face was evident.

The sword transformed into my clone, who kicked Orochimaru back into a rock. A third clone of mine with the real sword began to attack Orochimaru. I grabbed his wrists to keep him from moving, and my clone stabbed him with the sword. Orochimaru coughed blood onto my face before my clone disappeared and I let go. He fell to the ground.

I just killed Orochimaru. With his own weapon. I guess I had come farther than I thought in my training if I could kill him. Then again, thinking of Orochimaru, I've never seen him battle in a fair fight. He usually had Kabuto or some other followers by his side. Maybe isolating him was all I needed.

Another scream caught my attention. I turned from Orochimaru's body to see Kabuto, who had regained consciousness, holding Sakura by her hair. He had his chakra concentrated in his hand, and he looked ready to kill.

I tried to summon up enough chakra for some more clones, but I was completely out. I'd have to rely on taijutsu, which meant I was screwed. I couldn't help but watch as Sakura tried to take control of the situation, which actually worked out.

Kabuto landed a blow that would have been deadly had she not used a substitution jutsu first. The real Sakura came up behind him and got ready to attack, but he threw a scalpel at her first. Well, it turns out, that wasn't the real Sakura either. I was pleasantly surprised to see the scalpel pass right through her clone, as the real Sakura threw two kunai in his back from behind.

If you think that would stop Kabuto, you might have sniffed a little too much paint. Looking at Kabuto's smile, I wondered if the age old adage that humans begin to look like their pets is true about master and servant, because Kabuto's smile could have passed as Orochimaru's it was so creepy!

I turned to look at Sasuke's battle, which had changed drastically. Somehow, Itachi escaped from his prison and was fighting Sasuke in taijutsu. I guess even Itachi must be skilled at more than just ninjutsu. They were pretty evenly matched until Itachi caught Sasuke off guard by poking him in the forehead. Sasuke's eyes widened as Itachi sent him flying to the ground.

Turning to Sakura, I saw her faring no better as she was merely dodging Kabuto, who wasn't giving her enough time to use her jutsu. I couldn't help at all, being completely drained. I was starting to feel dizzy until I remembered I had an energy bar in my pocket. Okay, I know what you're thinking – 'you're watching your best friends battle two incredibly strong ninja and lose, so why are you thinking about food at a time like this?', right?

Well, it's a good thing I thought of it, because I felt much better after it. I was even able to summon up some chakra for a jutsu to help out Sakura. I did a shadow clone jutsu, and before Kabuto could say 'Ichiraku', I was on him like white on rice. With Kabuto on the defensive, and still a little injured from before, Sakura was able to take control of the situation with whatever earth style jutsu she used before.

Kabuto was pretty much finished, which drew our attention to Itachi and Sasuke. Who would have thought Sasuke would have lasted that long after last time. But the strangest thing was that they weren't fighting. In fact, if I didn't know any better, I'd say they were just glaring at each other.

"Genjutsu," Sakura whispered. She and I ran to help him, but Itachi appeared beside me. He grabbed be and twisted my arm back, breaking it. I screamed out.

The pain was so intense. I had never felt pain like that in my life, and coming from someone who almost died a few times, that's saying something. Sasuke must have heard my scream through the genjuts and turned to see Itachi holding me. Sakura did her earth jutsu (I made a mental note to ask her about it later), causing another stalagmite to pop out to hit Itachi. He dodged, taking me with him. I guess I was a hostage, now.

Hey, wait…if I was a hostage, then I was the damsel in distress. That means Sasuke would have to save me. If it wasn't so real and dangerous, I might have thought it was kinky. Gah! What was I thinking! I'm being held prisoner by an S-ranked criminal and I'm thinking about Sasuke being strong and protective? Something was definitely wrong.

I looked around for Sasuke, but I couldn't see him - he just disappeared! Where the hell was he? I guess Itachi noticed the same thing because he was looking around too. I was panicking - without Sasuke, Itachi could just take me and leave. Sakura was severely weakened by Orochimaru and Kabuto, and I couldn't battle with a broken arm and a lack of chakra. And I wish those birds would stop chirping!

Wait!

Those aren't birds. That's...

"Chidori!" Sasuke's voice rang out around the clearing as he slammed his fist into Itachi's side, freeing me and sending his brother flying. He skid to the ground until he hit a tree on the outskirt of the clearing. I pulled myself up to see Sasuke, who was holding the Sword of Kusanagi, stab his brother, finally avenging his clan.

"Bravo," the pervy sage said stepping out of a bush on the other side of the clearing. "I haven't seen such a good battle since the three sannin fought in the Second Great Shinobi War."

"It was a most impressive battle, showing that the power of youth can conquer all," said Might Guy, who stepped out after Jiraya. He put a thumbs up in our direction and smiled at us.

Finally, Grandma Tsunade came out from the bush and said, "Eh, not bad."

OoOoOoOoO

Word of us beating Kabuto, Orochimaru and Itachi spread fast throughout the Hidden Leaf Village when we got back. Grandma Tsunade healed me up quick, but I can't train for a week. Sakura and Sasuke didn't have many injuries, but it would take a while for all my chakra and the fox's chakra to recover.

Just as the pervy sage, Orochimaru, and Grandma Tsunade became known as the Sannin after battling in the Second Great Shinobi War, we were given a title - the three Senshi (1). We returned to the village, and there was a big party, but I couldn't stay for long – I was too injured. At least Sakura was injured right along with me (jeez, that sounded better in my head than it did coming out of my…well…mind).

Things seemed to be going extremely well for us, until I remembered something - Sasuke is in love with me...and I might have feelings for him, too. Yeah, that's just what I need right now. I sighed.

I decided to talk to Iruka again. He said he wanted to hear what happened over ramen later, so I would just talk to him then. Until then, I had something else to do.

I've always been straight. In order to have feelings for Sasuke, I'd have to be attracted to him. To be attracted to him, I'd have to be at least bi, if not gay. So I just had to test myself out and see if I was attracted to dudes.

I couldn't think of a very good way to do it, though. I decided to go to the adult magazine store in town, but that wouldn't work. After our battle, everyone knew us. I think a lot of people would be shocked to hear I bought magazines of nude men from a store. There was only one solution - Sexy Jutsu.

I had to adapt it to look a little older - old enough to be allowed to buy it. I went into the store, and carefully picked out a few magazines with shirtless guys on the cover. After browsing, I noticed that there were a lot of magazines with nude guys! Who knew? I also took a few with topless women. I paid for it, and left in a hurry. I don't care if no one would know it was me - it was still embarrassing.

When I got back to my apartment I started looking through a magazine with women. I guess I was still attracted to women because I got a boner pretty fast. I tossed it to the side. Now for the real test.

I opened up one who's centerfold featured a really muscular guy who seemed to be in the middle of jacking off. I didn't realize it, but I was subconsciously licking my lips. I turned the page to see a picture of two muscular guys - naked - kissing. I shut it quickly when I realized my bulge was growing even more so now!

I guess that answered my question. I must be bi. I had put the magazines to the side when I heard a knock on my door.

"Naruto, it's Shikamaru," I heard the bored teen say from outside my door. "Open up!"

I shuffled the all the magazines under my couch before getting up to let Shikamaru in.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I came to apologize," he said. "A few weeks ago I went off on you when you broke up with Sakura. I knew it wasn't your fault."

"Why didn't you apologize sooner?" I asked.

"I had other things to do, and it's too troublesome to drag myself over here when I don't know whether you'll even be here or not," he said.

"How'd you know I'd be here now?" I asked.

"I saw you coming out of the magazine store," he said with a smirk. "Remember, Naruto, I was the first person to see your sexy jutsu. You were so excited to show somebody, and I was the closest one around."

"Right," I said, a little embarrassed.

"So what did you pick up anyway?" he asked. "I don't see any magazines littering your apartment. I doubt you threw them away." I saw him glance towards the sofa, before widening his eyes a fraction. I turned around and saw the corner of a gay porn magazine sticking out from under the sofa. I prayed to god he didn't see it.

He started to go back towards the door. "If you ever need to talk to me, just find me," he said. "I'll probably be doing nothing. Oh, and congrats on the battle, by the way." He stepped through the door frame.

"Thanks," I said with a dryness in my throat.

"See you around." And with that, he left me alone. I felt my cheeks burn up. He suspected something. I just knew it! I should have put them away more carefully! I silently wished that he wouldn't tell anybody.

OoOoOoOoO

"Apparently, Sakura's clan has a kekkei genkai that involves the Earth, and she used that to kill Kabuto and trap Orochimaru. Orochimaru escaped and turned the tables on her, so I turned the tables on him and killed him with his own sword. We had to fight Kabuto again, but that wasn't that hard. Oh, and then Itachi grabbed me and broke my arm, but Sasuke saved me by killing him."

"Wow," Iruka said, "so I guess you've really been through a tough battle."

"Tell me about it," I said with a smile. I had just finished my fourth bowl of ramen. Iruka was almost half way done with his first. I decided to get the talking about the battle over very quickly so I could talk to him about Sasuke. I just didn't know how to start the conversation.

"So you left the Leaf Village, consequences be damned, to chase after Sasuke, who, last I heard had freaked you out because he was secretly in love with you," Iruka said in one breath. I guess that was one way that the topic could be brought up.

"Well," I said, "the day before he left, he confessed to me, and I let him down as easily as I could."

"Good," he said.

"But then I saw him talking to Kakashi's grave about how love was just a waste of time, and how revenge is all that matters. That's when he left, and I knew I had to stop him."

"Because you felt guilty," Iruka nodded in understanding. "You shouldn't feel guilty, Naruto. You can't force yourself to feel something you don't feel."

"That's the thing - love," I said. I needed to broach the topic that maybe I do feel something for him.

"Have you met someone else?" he asked, excited. "What's her name?"

"Nope," I said. "Haven't met a girl who I like yet."

"Oh," he said. "Is it a guy?" I blushed furiously. "Naruto, you can tell me anything. You know that."

"I know," I said. "But I'm not in love with a guy." I don't know why I decided to lie, but it just came out. Which was weird, considering that the whole point of this was to tell Iruka. I guess it's one of those things that is better thought out than executed.

"Then what did you want to talk about?" he asked.

"I-I..." I stuttered. I didn't know whether the gods were saving me or dooming me, but something was able to pull me away from the awkward conversation.

"Hey, Naruto!" I heard a husky voice say from behind me. I turned around to see the raven haired boy with the onyx eyes who was making me question everything.

"S-Sasuke!" I said. "W-what are you doing here?"

"I need to talk to you," he said with no emotion piercing his voice. Damn, how did he do that? My throat was dry, and my palms were sweating. Did he have some sort of super power?

I turned to Iruka, who nodded at me. "I'll pay up. Come see me tomorrow if you still want to talk." I nodded, and left with Sasuke. We went back to his place - which I just remembered was now across the hall from my apartment. In the excitement of the battle, I had forgotten all about Ishichi burning Sasuke's house down.

"What did you want to talk about?" I asked after he closed the door.

"The day that I left," he said, "I told you that I loved you." I had been trying to avoid this conversation for days, but I guess it had to happen eventually.

"I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry," he continued. "I shouldn't have told you. I understand if you don't want to be my friend, knowing that...knowing how I feel about you."

"Sasuke," I said, "you're my best friend. That will never change." He visibly relaxed. Well, I don't know how visible it would be to the naked eye. I guess in all my time as his friend, I just learned to read Uchiha body language. Maybe I'll write a book so that it won't be so hard for other people.

"Naruto," he whispered. "I promise I won't make you uncomfortable, and I promise I won't mention this again. But first, I need to do something."

He stepped closer to me, and grabbed my cheeks. His onyx eyes stared deeply into my cerulean eyes, before he closed them and leaned forward. I felt the pressure on my lips as my eyes fluttered closed. I tried to pull away, but after a second, I gave into it, pressing my lips back against his.

He smiled into the kiss, and he licked my lower lip, requesting entrance. He took his hands from my cheeks and he pulled me by my waist into him. I gasped at the wonderful friction our hips made, and he took the opportunity to plunge his tongue into my mouth.

He explored my mouth with his tongue for a few seconds before I decided to try to take control of the kiss. I invaded his mouth with my tongue, and we explored each other's mouths for what seemed like hours. I was horrified, but not surprised, to feel a bulge growing in my pants as he deepened the kiss. He pulled away and looked in my eyes before leaning in again.

The severity of what was happening hit me as I saw him closing the gap between our mouths again, and I pushed him away. He was visibly shocked as he fell to the ground. I heard an audible gasp, but I couldn't keep this going on.

"I-I'm sorry, S-Sasuke," I said. "I have to go." I tore out of his room like a bat out of hell, and didn't breathe again until I reached the solitude of my apartment.

(1) I just liked the idea of this…I don't know why…call me weird.

Author's Note: SO much happened this chapter. We saw Sasuke (really saw him) for the first time in a while, we had Naruto begin to admit his feelings for Sasuke, and (need I remind you?) the kiss. I hope you guys liked it. I'm pretty sure there will only be a few more chapters, but who knows.

Oh, and don't ask me where I got the idea for the porn magazines. I just thought it up. So review and tell me what you think. I want at least seven reviews…do you think y'all can manage that? I hope you guys liked this one as much as I did.