Sasuke was failing at an attempt to sleeping perfectly content in his house in the middle of the night. He had tossed and turned, remembering the way that confrontation had went down and unable to get it out of his head. Before he went home, Kakashi had found him and told that Naruto was not taking what happened anywhere near well. He refused to listen to Kakashi and he was just plain angry, but not like before. Sasuke was warned to not anger him anymore for a while. Sure, he had called Naruto a loser and the loudmouth had always acted out before, but something in his eyes just seemed to give itself away as a sign of something bad. For the first time he's seen, Sasuke saw complete hatred in the usually happy boy's eyes.

"What happened back there….?" He thought, "I mean, sure, I went too far in my words, but to think he'd actually try to use that Rasengan jutsu on me and Sakura…"

He looked at the picture of his family as he thought more about Naruto's behavior. He looked at Itachi in his younger years; how he idolized him in everything he did. He had a brief flashback of what he did to the clan and gritted his teeth at the thought… but then relaxed. He indeed made it a goal of vengeance to defeat Itachi, but his friends and his home was the key and stepping stones he loved and protected. He sighed with relief as he realized if he was patient, there would be a day where it'd happened.

He started to close his eyes for sleep, when he suddenly heard a bang on his door. It repeated as the knocking at the door came with a familiar voice came from outside.

"Sasuke, you here? Wake up, man," it said.

"Shikamaru?" he said to himself out loud as he climbed out of bed.

He was confused as to why anyone would need him so late, especially Shikamaru. He was the last person who would ever expect to come talk to him. As he wiped his eyes, he slowly opened the door and revealed Shikamaru, rubbing his shoulder and in his normal clothes, and surprisingly wearing a flak jacket.

"Shikamaru… are you a Chunin?" Sasuke said stunned, "I thought you forfeited in your battle in the Chunin Exams…"

"Ehh, it's too big of a drag to tell you the story, but right now, none of that is important. I got some bad news headed your way," Shikamaru said with sadness, "and it's about your team."

"What of it?" Sasuke asked.

"It's Naruto… it looks like he's left the village," Shikamaru said, looking down.

Those words shook the Uchiha and caught him completely off guard. He blinked as his eyes widened in disbelief. That knucklehead out of all people was leaving the village as a rogue? He shook his head and looked at Shikamaru.

"Is… is this some sort of joke? That loser really left the village?" he asked for him to verify.

"Unfortunately, yes, Sasuke," Shikamaru said, "Naruto was sighted by Sakura leaving the village a few hours ago. She tried to stop him, but he knocked her out and was last seen leaving with a bunch of Akatsuki agents, most likely Sasori's."

Sasuke immediately looked down as he felt cold yet confused. Why? Why would someone that strived so hard to be respected in a village he loved just leave like that? Were all those battles with people like Kiba and Neji no longer necessary to him? He looked up when Shikamaru continued.

"The reason I'm here is that Lady Hokage has requested I build a team to go get him back. And since you're the one he's the most closely related to, I'm choosing you and thus need you to help us bring back Naruto," he said.

"A-All right, give me a minute; I'll get ready," Sasuke said as he turned back into the room and closed the door to get changed.

He ran back to his bedroom and angrily put on his clothes. As he tightened his white arm sleeves and tied his headband, he looked at the picture of Squad 7. He especially looked at Naruto in the photo and then turned to go with Shikamaru.

"You better have a good reason for trying to abandon the leaf, Naruto," Sasuke said as he made his way towards the door.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

After all gave their weapon list to Shikamaru, the retrieval group were finally ready to head after Naruto. The group was led by the lazy Chunin, and consisted of Sasuke, Choji, Neji, Kiba, and Akamaru. All of them looked towards Shikamaru as he told them their line formation and their plan for combat.

"And that's how we're gonna approach them, because we don't know if Naruto's life is in danger?" Kiba asked as Akamaru whimpered.

"No, they're not going to kill Naruto; they need him alive in order to extract the Nine-tailed Fox from Naruto, but we don't know what they might do to him otherwise," Shikamaru said.

"They may critically injure Naruto as a threat; they need him alive, but that doesn't mean they need him at full health either," Neji said as he folded his arms.

"Whatever may be the case, Naruto can be used against us. We need to find a way where that doesn't happen," Shikamaru said.

"I just don't get it," Choji said, shaking his head, "Why would Naruto of all people leave the village? Isn't this his dream of being the Hokage?"

There was a bit of silence until a sigh was heard. All of the ninja turned to see Sasuke look up and finish his sigh.

"Let's just say… Naruto and I had a falling out recently," he said, "And because of it, I got him angry."

"So, is he doing this because of you? Or do you think it's bigger?" Neji asked.

"Well, I'm not going to repeat what I said, but Kakashi told me what I said really did hurt Naruto, yet… I don't feel that's a big enough reason to cause Naruto to abandon the village," Sasuke said.

"Whatever the case is, we can't let him get out of Konoha boundries," Shikamaru said, "He may be annoying and a brat sometimes, but Naruto is a fellow comrade of the Leaf, and I'm not letting the Akatsuki get their hands on him."

"Heh, dang right!" Kiba said as Akamaru barked happily and Choji smiled.

But something about that look kept bothering Sasuke inside. He slowly closed his eyes as he realized that it may not be that easy as the others thought. If they indeed found Naruto and he became hostile, it would be up to him alone to bring him back and fix what he wrecked. He looked up as Shikamaru began to speak.

"All right, everyone," he said, "It's time for us to head out. Let's go get that knucklehead back."

"S-Sasuke?"

Everyone looked behind the Uchiha as he turned around. They all saw Sakura walking towards them with Rock Lee on crutches right behind her. She walked up to Sasuke as he looked at her.

"I'm sorry, you two, but you're unable to come with us," Shikamaru said, "Lee, you gotta recover from your surgery; you're no where even close to being able to be on the battlefield. Sakura, I've got enough members as it is, and if it's true about you trying to stop Naruto last night, you're only gonna make it worse by being there. I'm sorry."

Sasuke walked to her as he asked, "So, you did try to stop him, didn't you?"

He was taken off guard as Sakura immediately let her head drop and start to sob in front of him. He watched concerned as she began to crying and hug herself.

"Sasuke… Ever since I knew Naruto, I constantly belittled him… I used to hate him and say it to his face… and now, I regret everything I did…. There's no way that right now, I can reach him…" she said.

She looked up to Sasuke with tears in her eyes and said, "But you can, Sasuke… the only one who can save him is you… Please, Sasuke… bring him back to the village… please."

Sasuke looked at her with a small smile and closed his eyes, "You love me… yet you really do care about Naruto, don't you?"

Sakura stopped crying and stared into Sasuke's eyes as he opened them and slowly smirked. He raised his right hand and then gave a thumbs-up to her. Rock Lee gasped silently at this as he recognized what he was doing.

"I promise, Sakura," Sasuke said, "I will bring Naruto back."

Kiba grinned and said, "I don't know, Sasuke; do you really think you can keep that promise to her?"

"Careful, Kiba," Sasuke smirked and turned around, "I don't go back on a promise at all."

"All right, enough talk," Shikamaru said, "It's time we go get Naruto back."

Sakura watched through her blurry tears as the retrieval team walked away out of sight and began to chase after the Akatsuki agents. Lee smiled as he looked at Sakura and chuckled. She looked at him in response. He turned to her as he grinned.

"You know how Sasuke just gave you a thumbs-up?" he said, "That's the nice guy promise."

Sakura slightly smiled as he gave the exact same motion with his thumb, "Don't worry, Sakura; Sasuke will bring Naruto back."

They both watched with smiles as the wind flew by on their faces. The leaves slowly fell from the trees and swept into the village. The tree rustled as Hinata hid behind it and watched Sasuke, Neji, and the group run, starting the mission. She fidgeted her fingers as she closed her eyes and spoke to herself.

"Neji… Sasuke… please bring Naruto back…"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

It was only a few more seconds until Sasuke came into a clearing. He had just gotten from a battle with an Akatsuki agent stopping him from immediately following Naruto. However, Rock Lee, surprisingly had bought him time and let him chase after, with the other members of the team doing that before. He heard the sound of rushing water as he saw an amazing location he had only heard from Jonin in the village: the Final Valley. He watched as the huge stone figures of the first Hokage and Madara Uchiha stare at each other with the falls letting the water fall between them. He saw that it was clear in the sky, but soon a storm would roll in from how a hot day suddenly got cooler.

As he approached the clearing, Sasuke saw something shine that caught his attention. In the grass, was a discarded leaf headband. The ninja gasped as he recognized who it belonged to. He gritted his teeth as he picked up and continued into the clearing. Feeling he would get a better view on the stone, he began to run up the stone that was designed like the first Hokage.

As he got to the top, his eyes caught the person he was assigned to retrieve, on the other side walking way. He felt the utter most importance to be the first to know why he truly left. With a huge inhale, he raised his voice to stop him.

"NARUTO!"

The blond hair boy stopped immediately in his tracks, but kept his back turned at Sasuke. The Uchiha watched his teammate stand there as a breeze of wind flew past them. He didn't understand why this was happened; heck, he couldn't believe that it was happening. But whatever was going on with Naruto, he wasn't going to let him solve his problems by running from Konoha. He gritted his teeth as he saw Naruto take a step to walk away again.

"Don't you run away from me again, loser! Turn around and face me; explain yourself!" Sasuke demanded.

The boy slowly came to a halt and looked down. With a slow hesitation, Naruto slowly turned to the left, slowly turning around completely so Sasuke could see his face. The Uchiha widened his eyes in shock and gasped at the sight of his friend's face. The Nine-tailed Fox had completely taken over the right side of his face, causing Naruto to have the features of his nine-tailed state. His right eye was red and animal-like, the marks on his face had changed, yet all his teeth had turned into fangs. His jacket was open, showing his black t-shirt as his bangs rested on his forehead. He had a calm look on his face as he looked at his teammate.

"Look who it is… Mr. Perfect-know-it-all," he said as he put his hands on his hips.

Sasuke stared in awe at how his face was different. It was the very first time he had truly gotten a clear look at Naruto when the Nine-tailed Fox had changed his facial features, besides that one time in the Forest of Death when the Uzumaki had saved him from the giant snake. But that wasn't going to scare him or stop him. He became calm and determined as he looked on at Naruto.

"So, what are you doing here?" Naruto asked.

"I'm the one that should be asking that," Sasuke answered, "What the heck are you doing leaving the Leaf, Naruto?"

"I'm not Naruto… not anymore," the blond hair ninja said as he looked at him.

"Hmph… you really think I'm going to fall for that, Naruto?" Sasuke asked immediately, "If the Nine-tailed Fox was controlling you, you would be leaving by yourself, especially not with the Akatsuki."

The response was just Naruto giving him an angry growl as he clenched his fists.

"Why are you leaving with them? Do you honestly think they're going to help you with the fox?" the Uchiha asked.

"Tch, it's not like anyone of the Leaf Village could help me, and even if they could, they'd turn their backs on me," Naruto sneered and scoffed at the very idea.

Sasuke fixed his eyes more tensely on Naruto as he spoke, "So, that's your reason for leaving and giving up? What about your dream of making people respect you? What about becoming Hokage?"

There was a slight silence as another breeze of cool air flew past them, blowing their hair and clothes in it. They both stared back into the other's eyes and neither wavered. The Uchiha stared at him angrily as he continued.

"Naruto, if you leave the village, you'll never become Hokage. You'll become a rogue ninja who will never be allowed to enter again. I mean, what about all those battles you fought so hard to prove yourself in? What about all the friendships you made by never giving up? Are you honestly going to throw it all away by giving up?" he asked.

It was then Naruto slowly had a devilish smirk come across his face as he folded his arms.

"And since when do you care about what I do? I thought I was a loser who didn't matter to you," Naruto chuckled as he grinned.

Sasuke slowly clenched his comrade's headband tighter as he gritted his teeth under his lips. He felt a rising anger at his friend's foolishness, yet understood his point. Until recently, he's always stomped over Naruto like he was nothing and really never cared about him after missions were done. He watched Naruto chuckle more as he pointed at him.

"Besides, what's the big deal for the Leaf Village if they lose one Genin? It's not the end of the world for them or you. Besides, you got the vengeance of the Uchiha clan and Itachi to worry about. You should focus on those things instead of an idiot like me," he said.

Sasuke clenched his fists harder as he grunted in anger. Naruto lost his smile and looked up straight in the eyes and said something that shook Sasuke to his very core.

"I will say this before I leave; my days of being mistreated and feared by the people of the Leaf Village are over. I'm sick of it and I'm done with those days."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

It seems the duo is really starting to set this alternate battle in motion. Please tell me how I'm doing so far with this. I wanna keep making sure I can make a good roles reversed story, so feedback would be great.