The giant explosion roaring out incredibly, the whole area shook at the amazing power that had collided. The two boys both had clashed in a fiery flash; Naruto had tried another paper bomb attached to a kunai, but Sasuke decided to intercept it with his Fireball Jutsu. The result was a lot more impactful than they thought; it ended up blowing up in their faces. But Naruto was unhurt as he jumped out of smoke and landed on the water. He crouched a bit as he panted. Man, he was forced to work for his escape. But he couldn't afford a long battle; despite the fact he had the better stamina of the two, he rather not have Sasuke's potential back-up showing at any moment. He slowly stood up as he suddenly realized his opponent was standing up too.
Sasuke had appeared out of the smoke and walked forward, his black eyes staying right on him. He wasn't at all shaken up from it, which was nothing Naruto wouldn't have expected less of. He was always the brave one, the smart, collected, has-it-together guy of Squad 7. It burned him inside a bit, but not as much as why he was leaving the Hidden Leaf.
Just the sudden look of a smirk on Naruto's face made Sasuke narrow his eyes at him. His partner wasn't taking this match seriously at all. He just wanted him down for a few minutes so he could split. He needed to find a way to get him pulled into this fight.
"Heh, I gotta admit, Sasuke. No matter who you're fighting, you really make it worth your opponent's while," Naruto chuckled.
"This isn't funny," Sasuke responded as he took a step forward, "I don't even want to be fighting you right now."
"Oh yeah? What about that fight yesterday? You really seemed like you wanted to go at it then," Naruto shrugged cockily, "What's so different now?"
"What's so different? We were supposed to be sparring as comrades, not fighting as enemies," Sasuke fired back, "You definitely know that; don't try to act so foreign about it."
A bit of a shadow like darkness covered Naruto's face as his head lowered a bit.
"...If that's the case, you should've kept your mouth shut instead of calling me a monster," he said, causing the Uchiha to blink in response and back off, "Just like everyone else... you really think I'm some monster..."
Sasuke wanted to say something, but there was nothing he could really say. Back at the fight, he was consumed by jealousy and rage, and his darker self screamed that out right at him. The total look on Naruto's face was broken and incomplete; like something he hoped for was forever lost and shattered. He listened as Naruto looked up with a calm look and folded his arms.
"You know, Sasuke? I honestly thought you were different," he said in a sad and sighing fashion, "Besides everyone calling me names and hating me, you really didn't show it back then. You called me loser, sure enough, and you degraded me, but I thought you may have liked me as a good friend. Guess I was wrong."
That ending sentence burned Sasuke inside. No, it wasn't true. He did love him as one of his greatest friends. But before he could rebuttle, the Jinchuuriki continued.
"Anyways, it's been fun playing with you like old times, Sasuke, but I gotta blow this place. Not meaning to steal Shikamaru's lines, but man, the village is a drag," he grinned and joked.
"Don't toy with me as if I'm not a threat, Naruto," Sasuke threatened as he dropped into a fighting stance.
"Hey, I got an idea, Sasuke," Naruto laughed and waved cheerfully as he used to, "How about I give you one of my clones to take back to the village? They'll never know the difference. Whaddya say?"
Insulted by the complete stupid flaws of the plan and the laughter that followed, the Uchiha grunted in frustration and said, "I said knock it off, you loser! You're coming back to the village, even if I have to drag you back."
"Oh... gee, Sasuke, I guess I'll make fifty clones to pummel the life outta ya, then!" Naruto grinned and summoned that many clones after making a hand sign.
Sasuke widened his eyes in anticipation as all clones came at him. It was relentless; every single chance he could get a breather was taken away by another clone popping up and trying to strike him. He held is ground; every strike landing perfectly and dodging every attack... that is, until one clone had grabbed his left leg when he kicked a clone back with his other. He fell off balance for a tiny second, but that was long enough for the rest of the eight clones to grab him. His arms forced behind his back and fingers separated for no jutsu casting, Sasuke was apprehended and forced to stand still.
Smirking, Naruto simply walked right in front of him. The Uchiha needed to move, but because of the mob of clones that captured him, he was unable to dodge any attack then. He looked right into those blue eyes; those eyes that once were joyful and dreamed of reaching the Hokage seat, were now like his only a few days ago. He groaned as his arms were pulled painfully as his teeth bared at the real Naruto.
"N-Naruto... I'm warning you... you're making a big mistake...!" he struggled to threaten.
The boy simply closed his eyes with a smile as he summoned one more clone by his side and said, "The only mistakes I'm seeing are the ones the village made, and you made, Sasuke. The village made the mistake of hating me and treating me rottenly for all these years, and now, they'll never see me again. And your mistake was you being stupid enough to come alone after me. And now..."
Suddenly, those normally calm eyes of Sasuke panicked as Naruto opened his victorious looking eyes and began to charge up a Rasengan. He struggled, but his teammate's clones and their combined strength was too great. He watched helplessly as Naruto soon rushed at him with a completed jutsu.
"You're gonna pay the price! RASENGAN!" he yelled as he drove the chakra ball into Sasuke's chest.
A chorus of painful yells shrieked out of Sasuke and the clones as the collision hit. Soon, a smoke cloud appeared from nowhere and a huge explosion into one of the walls of the battleground was created shortly after a sudden fling of speed from an person being sent flying. Naruto watched peacefully as the smoke and rubble soon cleared, and as he saw no signs of Sasuke, let his last remaining clone disappear. He turned his back and began walking towards the waterfall in order to climb up and remain his departure.
"NAAAAAARUUUUUTOOOOOOO!"
Suddenly, a scream of his name caused the boy to whirl around, right in time to see Sasuke ready a huge punch to his jaw. It send his head turning rapidly to the side as the Uchiha glared at him. But something made him gasp; something... just didn't feel right. He watched as the Uzumaki just turned his head back slowly with a bit of a confident look. He drilled another punch into his chin, causing his head to fly back, but he once again, brought it back to look at Sasuke. A series of nonstop kicks and blows were given, but Sasuke just couldn't shake that feeling off.
"Why...? I don't... understand... Damn it..." he thought as he finally stopped.
Taking a step back, his fists and feet under his shoes looked red from soreness. He felt like he had been punching and kicking a steel wall for hours. Flinching at the pain, he closed his eyes for a bit, then shook them out.
"You gotta be kidding me, right? That's all you're capable of?" he heard, as he looked up at Naruto, whose head was still turned to the left from the last punch and eyes were closed.
"Wha..." he began to speak, but was cut off.
A smirk appearing, Naruto continued, "I can't believe I wasted so many hours training my butt off to catch up to your strength. Man, I really wasted a lot of time."
"What are you saying, Naruto?" Sasuke finally spoke up.
"Oh, come on; can't you feel it?" his comrade asked as he then opened his eyes and looked at him, "I'm not even using the Nine-Tailed Fox's power."
Suddenly, a bit of anger came out of the Uchiha and snarled as he threw a punch, "Don't mock me!"
The fist was caught with ease, as Sasuke's eyes did a double-take at how easily his fist was caught. No way he could've done this back then. Something had to happen to him.
"You honestly dare to try to tell me you can save me from the demon inside me? You can't even handle me one-on-one," Naruto glared back at him, and said words that readied the Uchiha for another round.
In an instant before he could react, Naruto used his strength and with a loud grunt, flung Sasuke up into the air. Quickly summoning two clones, they flung him hard into the air right after the opponent. Flying at high speeds, Sasuke looked down to see Naruto coming right at him faster. He raised his arms in front of his chest and face, preparing for any attacks. Soon the orange-wearing ninja was right in arms length of him and began striking at him.
"Come on, Sasuke! I can tell you're holding back on me!" he yelled as he traded missed and blocked attacks with his enemy, "What, are you scared you're gonna kill me or something? You taking pity on me!?"
A good clip on the face caught Sasuke off guard and made him go limp for a few seconds. Seeing this opportunity to attack, Naruto grinned and readied a heel strike to send him crashing down, possibly fatally, against the rocks.
"Well, don't! Show me what you can do! I wanna see what the avenger of the Uchiha clan has got!" he screamed, beginning to throw his leg into him.
A hand grabbing into his ankle, he was shaken up as he gasped at the sudden determined and serious black eyes. Being yanked down gave Sasuke the opportunity to land a punch right to Naruto's face, causing him to hold his nose. Then, with a calculated spin, he threw Naruto onto a direct path into the water below. Hearing the scream of suddenly being thrown, he watched his opponent splash hard into the water, as he too readied his descent. Landing on the water and bending on one knee, he clenched one fist and soon stood up.
"Fine, Naruto. You're gonna joke about this?" he thought as he began to formulate a plan of his, "Then I'm gonna get serious and make you decide to stay and finish this!"
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Pakkun, how much further is it to where they're fighting?" Kakashi asked, worried by keeping his voice rather subtle.
"Ehh, it's hard to track. There have been so many battles between Sasuke's team and the Akatsuki agents taking Naruto that it's hard to even pick up their scent," Pakkun answered, as he and Kakashi were both stepping on the gas so to speak to reach the boys of Squad 7, "But they're a little longer away."
Looking down, Kakashi sighed. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. It was supposed to be all right, just like he promised Sasuke and Sakura. But he never imagined this would happen to Naruto. Not now, not ever, not like this.
"All right then, we keep going at it and follow them," he said to his ninken, "We can't afford to rest when there might be a possibility in one of them dying."
"Hold on," Pakkun looked at him and asked, "I know the two boys would rip out each other's throats from time to time, but they wouldn't actually try to take each other's life... or would they?"
"I really can't tell you truthfully anymore. Back then, it'd be a no, but after that fight, and the looks they had on their faces..." the Jonin trailed off and closed his eyes.
A bit of a collected silence came from the two as the answer to the question remained unknown. Would those two go so far as to kill one another? Was their bond breaking?
The question was immediately put on hold as Pakkun sniffed the air and stopped, "Kakashi, we're being trailed."
Both stopping in a flash, the Jonin pulled out a kunai and turned around. His gaze turned to a tree, about several feet away, to the right, behind a moss covered one.
"All right, come out. I know you're hiding there... Sakura," he said gently.
Soon, the pink-haired girl emerged, and jumped forth onto the same tree limb the two pursuers were on.
"Kakashi-sensei... please forgive me, but..." she said bowing her head, then looking up with courageous eyes, "I want to come too!"
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Oh my gosh, this whole chapter on three hours. Talk about your mind being tired. Ya know, it's not easy coming up with great writings. The ideas are easy, but taking the time to describe them specifically and editing them to improve is like freaking homework. XD Anyways, please tell me if I'm doing good. Thanks. Keep reading!