Well, i managed to get this down as a reward for a very hard working hime. :3 Good luck on your next test sweety!

Anyway, we left off right before Sasuke vs Gaara. I think you'll find the differences in the fight interesting. Relatively similar to cannon, but significantly different, particularly due to the dialouge differences present as they fight for more than just to fight. Remember, as boyfriend and brother to Naruto, they are NOT getting along. Tell me what you think of the fight, please.

disclaimer me-I DON'T own Naruto.

PLEASE REVEW!

Gaara frowned at the sight before him. These two fools had hoped to kill him, so he had returned the favor, and yet his lust for blood was not even close to sated. Why was that? Ah, of course…he was about to face the meddling Uchiha, the one who was trying to manipulate the foolish girl. He grinned in anticipation. This was going to be a good fight.

"Now, my little Uchiha," he said, his voice low and gravely, "now I will have the chance to do with you as I wish…and soon you're life will end!"

He stepped out in the waiting arena, the crazed look still on his face, fazing Sasuke for a short moment as he thought on his training.

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"Alright Sasuke, once more; let's see if you can do it." Sasuke nodded, holding his arm straight as he gripped it with his left hand. He concentrated the chakra, focusing his lightening nature to his right hand. It sparked several times before fizzling out.

"Hmmm, I see. Looks like your limit, for now, is two. Listen to me now: I don't want you to ever go over that limit with talking to me first. If you do, there's no telling how much damage you might do to yourself." Sasuke grinned.

"Heh, like I'd risk that."

"…for Naruto, I think you would." Sasuke's eye twitched. "Oh? Still not used to me knowing? I've known for a while now." Now the boy was surprised.

"What? How?" His sensei looked at him in disappointment.

"Really now Sasuke, I'm a jounin for a reason." He rolled his neck to loosen the kinks from their morning training. "I can tell you that your mother would be happy, though." He winced as Sasuke's mood darkened. "Sorry, I shouldn't have brought her up."

"…no…it's okay. But sensei," he said, looking up, "what makes you say that?"

"Am I right or wrong in thinking that I often saw your mother leaving things near Naruto's place for her to wear? Or that she often told you to be friends with her?"

"How-"

"I was in the Anbu Black Ops, Sasuke. I know more about the people in this village than almost anyone, and Nauto was always someone we looked out for, under the hokage's orders." He shrugged. "That, and…well, that's a story for another time. Meanwhile, how about you come out now, Gaara." Sasuke started, shifting to a battle stance as Gaara walked out from behind a rock, glaring darkly at the other boy. "So, what did you want, Gaara?"

"…my sister goes with me." Sasuke began to charge the other boy only to be stopped by Kakashi's hand on his shoulder.

"Eh, Sasuke, don't worry. You're going to get your chance," he said soothingly while directing his attention back to the boy from Suna. "Now Gaara, I believe that Naruto has stated clearly that she does not want to go with you, has she not?"

"It matters not. She is naive, not realizing you are all using her, even that boy's mother. She doesn't know what is best, and she is coming with me."

"Like heck she is! I'll never let you take Naruto-chan!" Gaara slowly tipped his head sideways.

"…it's too bad Naruto has not allowed me to fight you yet. You are strong, and mother is looking forward to our match…" Kakashi quirked an eyebrow at this, wondering what had caused the boys unstable personality.

"Well then, that's that. How about we all start preparing for the match, and you leave it to us." Gaara's eyes narrowed.

"…fine, but Naruto will be there, too, or I kill you both."

Hmmm? He's having trouble finding Naruto is he, Kakashi thought. Well, that can only be a good thing. I don't really want to dwell on this much anyway. He turned back to Sasuke.

"I hope that gives you sufficient motivation to train," he said, pausing as he saw small sparks shooting from Sasuke's clenched hand.

"Don't worry Sensei," he said, raising his clenched fist before his face. "With this first, I will protect Naruto-chan…and defeat Gaara. This is a promise surpassing even my promise of revenge, so there is no way I can fail." The copy-nin looked at the boy in surprise.

Wow…he really cares… The man grinned.

"Very well, we just up-ed our training scheduale…"

Sasuke clenched his fist again. That's right; no matter what he pulls out now, I cannot lose, for Naruto.

The proctor looked back and forth between the two boys as they took their positions, the crowd falling into a grace silence as the most anticipated match inched closer to starting.

"…Naruto-"

"Go to heck." Gaara grinned.

"Begin!"

As fast he the jounin jumped out of the way Sasuke leapt at his opponent with such speed that even those who knew him best were surprised.

"Ah! Kakashi-sensei, when did Sasuke get as fast as Lee?" Kakashi eye-smiled, Naruto and himself having rejoined the group after Naruto's interrogation.

"Yes Kakashi, how did your student so quickly copy Lee's moves?" The whole group turned in surprise at the new voice before Kakashi could answer.

"Bushy-brow! When did you get out? How are you doing? Feeling any better?" Lee gave Naruto a thumbs.

"I am still recovering, but rest assured, soon I will be back to fighting even stronger than I was before. You have defeated Neji before I got the chance but I will only let this spur me on to a quicker recovery."

"Atta-way bushy brow," Naruto said, clapping him on the back as Sakura softly smiled at the wince that Lee tried to cover up.

"Anyway, as to Sasuke's Taijutsu," Kakashi informed them, "I had him train just in the that taijutsu the whole month."

"What?"

The evidences of that labor were easy to see as Sasuke quickly matched the speed that Lee had displayed before, though it may have been even faster as he landing small hits across Gaara' sand armor, creating small cracks here and there.

I need to crack that armor fast, Sasuke thought. I know he needs a lot of chakra to keep it up, so the more faster I can make it break completely is the more chakra he doesn't have to fight back…and this is tiring. Sasuke jumped back a few feet to catch his breath as he wiped off a small sheen of sweat from his forehead.

"You…I won't let you do this," Gaara growled as sand flaked off his body. "I'm taking her home!" Sasuke snorted.

"Right. 'Cause she'd really go with you. No, Naruto's home is here, and with me, as long as she'll have me, and I'm never going to let you take her."

"Ahhhhh!" Gaara shot an arm out, his sand aiming at the Uchiha who quickly dodged, jumping to the side and charging his new attack as he ran.

It might take a lot out of me, but if this hits then not only will it take out his armor, it will also put him out of commission, and I can't have this fight lasting longer than it needs to.

Die…die….Die….DIE! Gaara kept his sand following the one who would use his sister and cast her aside, the one who dared to challenge him and act as if he wasn't planning something. This would not do; he would die, no matter what Naruto said; he never slept as it was, and it wouldn't be hard to keep her away from weapons until she came around, and mother screamed for his blood.

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"When, when did Sasuke-kun get this fast?" Ino stared at her in surprise.

"What kind of question is that? You're his g-g-girlfriend," she managed to spit out, "and you don't know how awesome Sasuke-kun in?" Naruto rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"I know better than you do, Ino. Sasuke's good, but he's not the end-all-and-be-all of shinobi. We've all still got a lot to learn. Sure, he's really talented, but that doesn't mean he's invincible."

"Well said, Naruto. As a matter of fact, if Naruto wasn't in the picture, Sasuke would be about 15% slower than he is currently going."

"15%!" Gai stared at his 'eternal rival' in shock. "Kakashi, surely you've been pushing that boy too hard. Not even…" his eyes darted to his student who was clutching his crutch tightly as he watched the match. "To improve that much is impossible."

"Not," stated Kakashi, "if you have someone to fight for." Naruto blushed.

He improved this much…for me?

"Sensei…will he be okay?"

"Of course. I have full confidence in Sasuke's abilities, especially since, due to use being the same chakra nature, I was able to teach him one of my original techniques."

"What?" Just look; he's getting ready to use it already. He's just been building up his speed for maximum penetration."

Eyes back on the fight they were able to see the chakra gathering in the boy's hand as he made a sudden shift and shot straight towards his red haired opponent.

"Now stay away from Naruto!" Gaara barely had time to blink before Sasuke shoved the lightening chakra he'd gathered at his shoulder.

"Gaara!" Temari's shriek rang out over even the gasps of the crowd and Kankuro's knuckles went white as he gripped the railing like a vice. Yes, he understood why Sasuke was fighting so hard, but this was his brother! He struggled to try and keep his anger in check.

"Kankuro-kun, please, ease up." He shot a dark look at the girl next to him.

"Why," he growled through gritted teeth. "Didn't you see what he just did to my brother?"

"Of course I see what he tried to do, but look over there." Kankuro and Temari followed Kin's pointing finger to another spot on the field where a small pillar of sand was raising itself from the ground.

"He…substituted? When? And how come Sasuke's sharingan didn't catch it?"

"Kankuro should know, Temari-san. After all, his works with puppets should have had the same effects."

"Kankuro?" The boy rubbed his fingers together as Sasuke extricated his hand from the crumbling sand clone, a look of disgust on his face for his failed attack.

"Gaara himself may not be very quick, but because he uses his hands for all the attacks he does, like a puppet user does, his hands are fast, and can react even quicker than the rest of his body. When Sasuke charged him at such a high speed, he substituted without even thinking."

"Gaara…"

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"Wait, but I thought Sasuke hit him! Didn't you see how fast he went? How did he have enough time to react?" This time it was Gai that answered.

"In the same way that you react to a punch by blocking, Gaara must have had some sort of instinct to substitute when charged head on by such an unbelievable speed. Where he got that instinct from I don't know, because he holds himself like someone who doesn't give in or run away. But the abilities that he has…" Gai scratched his chin, shoot a glance at Naruto. Could it be that this child suffers the same burden as out Naruto? That would explain both his unnatural defense and his uncharacteristic excape. He shrugged.

"No matter the case, he has dodged the attack, and Sasuke lost more energy than he did. The playing field may be about to level."

"Hmph, no way. Sasuke's not going to give up, either," Naruto declared, arms crossed.

"But Naruto, can't you see how tired he is?" Naruto smirked widely as she spoke to her teammate.

"Sakura, how often has Sasuke gone for such an extreme attack? If you think about it, you'll know why he did it, and you'll know that for that reason, he won't give up till he wins, no matter how hard Gaara pushes back, believe it!" Sakura looked at her friend in surprise as she considered, realizing that Naruto was right. She had barely caught it over the cheers from the crowd when Sasuke attacked, but it was clear: he was fighting for Naruto's right to choose where she lived, for her to stay in Konoha. She clutched her arms, wishing she had someone that would fight for her like that.

Still, she thought, I think I would fight like that for Naruto also. She's a friend worth fighting for.

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Gaara laughed as he rose from the ground, his opponent turning to meet his gaze. He was so happy! He'd never felt so…alive as he did right now, the blood pumping through his veins, the adrenaline rushing through him like a water fall.

"Uchiha! You really are a great opponent, but this is the end of the line; I'm going all out now, and then, you'll die!" Laughing he brought his hands together, forming a sphere around himself. With his Sharingan activated, Sasuke could see him gathering his chakra from deep within himself. Hmmm…just like Naruto…if that's the case, I need to end this…now! He rushed to the opposite end of the arena, running up the wall and gathering his chakra into his hand once again.

That sphere of his will be powerful, but it's made of sand, an earth element. My chidori is lightening element, which means it will be strong against his defense, able to penetrate it. I've got one shot, and I need to hit him just right to knock him out without killing him. It'll be harder with him inside, he thought, looking down from the top of the wall, but I have to succeed, for Naruto.

"Chidori!" He screamed as he ran down the wall, gaining speed all along the way, becoming a blur even to some jounin. On a few where able to follow him as sand and dirt from the arena flew into the air in his wake, ending at the ball that protected the other boy. Silence hung over the coliseum as the spectators held their breath, Sasuke poised with his hand stickin straight through his opponents shield, and all of this was broken with an ear piercing shriek.

"My blooooooooooooood!"

Also, in response to Kakashi not telling Naruto in the last chapter, I've realized that, while in my head it has been obvious, I haven't really written it such that you all can tell, but a large part of the reason that Kakahsi hasn't told Naruto the whole truth is because HE is not yet ready to fully speak it. Any of you that have had a bad experiance can attest that, even if you can think about it, it's much harder to talk about it, so you don't even talk at all some times. Kakashi has had to live with this secret for a long time, but he hasn't had to talk about it. in fact, it was better that he not talk about it because of the secrets invovled in the second(?) most traumatic time of his life. However, he will be able to face it by the end of the story, and him and Naruto will be able to talk about it again.

Hope ya'll enjoyed the new chapter. Invasion is next, and this is where the lines will be drawn for several characters. Where will they stand when the time comes to fight? Who will choose their friends over their family or village? Come back next time to find out!

ps- on the challenge, through reviews and PM's, there was one person who correctly guessed the person that would reveal Naruto's history to her (darn it!), but the challenge was to also guess HOW they would do this. Just another reminder that you need to send me the rest of your guess in order to claim or prize (you know who you are)

Take care till next time my friends!