Sasuke's Susanoo appeared around him, making Nawaki jump slightly. The thing was terrifying, a giant ribcage covered in purple flames, with an arm sticking out of its right side. At the end of the arm were black flames shaped like a sword that radiated their own evil aura. How was anyone supposed to defeat that thing?

To his surprise, Sakura began to laugh.

"You're fighting me without a fully developed Susanoo? Oh, you definitely have a death wish Sasuke."

Her right hand became coated in chakra. It wasn't the healing chakra or the ordinary chakra that Nawaki had seen before. It was darker and had red streaks going through it. He noticed that a diamond tattoo had appeared on his mother's forehead. He knew what it was and what it could do, but he didn't think it could break through the Susanoo. She hadn't released the diamond seal yet, which meant the chakra in her hand was from another source. Nawaki couldn't figure it out.

If it wasn't for his sharingan, Nawaki wouldn't have seen her move at all. One second she was standing across the field, the next second, her fist was smashing into the ribs of the Susanoo. Sasuke let out a yell and clutched his right eye. Nawaki realised with a shock that two of the ribs were cracked. What had Sakura done? An ordinary punch couldn't have broken it, no matter how much chakra was pushed into it. Perhaps the chakra from the diamond seal could, but she still hadn't released it. It was all very confusing. The other thing that puzzled Nawaki was that Sasuke seemed to have expected Sakura to break through. He couldn't see her face anymore, so he didn't know what reaction she had.

He glanced over at Kakashi and Naruto. Naruto was staring at Sasuke with concern, while Kakashi was staring shrewdly at Sakura. He hadn't opened his sharingan yet, which was good for Nawaki. If he did, he would probably spot Nawaki instantly.

Nawaki needed to fix this, so he made a quick hand-seal and whispered "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." Three shadow clones poofed into existence. Naruto frowned slightly and tilted his head towards the sound. Nawaki held his breath until Naruto's attention was drawn back to the fight.

Quickly, he put a Henge on each shadow clone that so that they looked like ants. Then he ordered them to spread out around the edge of the clearing, but never to get close enough for anyone to see them. Hopefully, if someone noticed his chakra signature, the four different sources would confuse them.

With this done, he turned his attention back to the fight. Sakura wasn't letting up. She punched the Susanoo over and over again, never giving Sasuke the chance to counterattack. When she finally jumped back to catch her breath, Nawaki counted five cracked ribs in the Susanoo. A tiny trickle of blood leaked from Sasuke's right eye, but if he was in pain he didn't show it.

He drew back his sword and aimed it at Sakura. It flashed forward and the ground exploded. For a terrifying second Nawaki thought that Sakura had been hit, but to his relief she jumped out of the dust, a frown visible on her face.

Sasuke struck again while she was in middair. This blow came closer to touching her, but she twisted while in the air and the black flames missed. Sasuke turned the sword and adjusted the swing, so that it was heading towards her again. She hit the ground hard to avoid it, her feet barely touching the ground for a second before she jumped again.

"Is that the best you can do Sasuke-kun?" she taunted.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed slightly, but he didn't respond.

Suddenly, the Susanoo vanished. Sakura's smirk got wider. She raised an eyebrow at Sasuke, whose face never changed. Nawaki wondered what was going through their heads right now. They had made love to each other at one point in their lives. Was that gone now? Did it mean anything?

Nawaki gasped slightly when two shuriken appeared in Sasuke's hands. He noticed now that there were two seals on his arms. A shuriken summoning seal? Nawaki had never seen one of those before.

The shuriken flew at Sakura, and they seemed to multiply in the air. Instead of two, there were now twenty. More shuriken appeared in Sasuke's hands, all aimed at Sakura. She didn't even bat an eyelid. She drew out a kunai and deflected the first ten. Then she jumped away and dodged the next twenty. Still the shuriken kept coming, a never-ending flow of deadly sharp weapons. Nawaki winced slightly when one got close enough to scratch Sakura, but she barely seemed to notice it.

How long could Sasuke keep the shuriken going? He certainly didn't look like he was going to slow down. The trees behind Sakura were filled with grooves and scratches. Nawaki knew that it could be a lot worse. At least Sasuke wasn't using Amaterasu.

Sasuke promptly shot a blast of black flames towards Sakura. It hit the trees behind her and set them on fire. Nawaki felt one of his shadow clones vanish and a small amount of chakra came flooding back into his body, along with the memories of that clone. If he concentrated hard enough, Nawaki could feel the burn of the black fire.

He realised suddenly that the sounds of the shuriken had stopped. Returning his eyes to the field, he watched as Sasuke drew a chokuto from his back. A current of electricity ran up and down the sword, sounding like a much quieter version of the Chidori. Sasuke gripped it firmly in his right hand, keeping his left free. His sharingan was back to its original state, eyes still trained on Sakura.

Sakura held her kunai firmly. The air rippled around it and for a second Nawaki thought she was doing a genjutsu. Then he realised that it was chakra in the air that was causing the ripples. The same dark chakra from earlier was running up and down Sakura's kunai.

She charged Sasuke and he met her in the middle. Their weapons clashed and real sparks flew. One fell onto Sakura's cheek but once again she barely seemed to feel it. The way they fought was different to how Nawaki sparred. Instead of trying to overpower each other by forcing their sword down, their swords barely touched before they tried to find a different opening. It was all about the speed, and they moved so fast that Nawaki's sharingan could barely keep up.

Their swords clashed and clashed again until Nawaki started to feel dizzy. Suddenly, Sasuke swung downwards. Sakura's kunai was by her right side, too far away to block in time. A small part of Nawaki hoped that Sasuke wouldn't go through with it, but to his horror the sword kept coming down, aimed directly for Sakura's head.

Sakura reached up and caught the sword with one hand. Her fingers started smoking, and the sword cut into her palm. She simply laughed, and swung her kunai at Sasuke. He tried to tug the sword away, but she kept a firm grip on it. He was forced to release it and jump backwards. The kunai grazed his stomach, drawing a small amount of blood. If he had been a second slower, the kunai would have gutted him.

It was then that Nawaki realised it. Sasuke wasn't trying to knock Sakura out to bring her back, and Sakura wasn't planning on letting Sasuke leave this fight alive. This was a fight to the death.

!

"What's happening now?"

Hisa squinted slightly. The tiny figures had become blurs, moving too quickly for her to see.

"I think they're having a kenjutsu fight. It's getting harder to see them. Naruto and Kakashi aren't moving and for some reason I can see three of Nawaki's chakra signatures."

There was silence from below.

"You know you could just come up here and see for yourself. If Sasuke uses his Susanoo again it shouldn't be too hard to see. It is a giant purple flaming skeleton."

Oki was next to her in seconds, squinting hard at the figures in the distance.

"I think I see Sakura and Naruto-the pink and orange makes them hard to miss. I can't see Sasuke or Nawaki though."

Oki suddenly turned and grinned at Hisa.

"Let's go and surprise Nawaki! C'mon, I don't want to be stuck here. Naruto and Kakashi aren't even fighting, they won't mind if we tag along."

Hisa was quiet for a minute.

"I don't think that we should."

Oki frowned at her friend.

"Why? I thought you said that there were more important things than orders and rules. Was that all talk?"

"It's not about the rules and orders." Hisa said "It's about trust. I trust Naruto, and if he wants us to stay here than that's what I'm going to do."

Oki was quiet after that. Hisa felt slightly guilty. She understood how much Oki wanted to see Nawaki, but something much bigger seemed to be going on.

She hoped that Nawaki wasn't part of it.

!

Nawaki watched in shock as Sakura smashed Sasuke's sword into the ground, destroying any remaining electricity. Sasuke snarled slightly. Sakura chuckled at that, her eyes narrowing maliciously at Sasuke.

Nawaki wondered why he wasn't using any of his extremely powerful attacks, like Susanoo. Perhaps it was because Sakura had already defeated it once, or perhaps it was because jutsu like that did a lot of damage to its surroundings. If Sasuke used a full Susanoo there was a good chance that Kakashi and Naruto, not to mention Nawaki himself, would get hurt.

With his sword currently unusable Sasuke seemed to be considering his options. Although Sasuke's face gave nothing away, Nawaki was getting a very bad feeling.

Suddenly, Sakura screamed and clutched her head. Nawaki gasped as Naruto snarled loudly. Sakura shook for a few seconds, before slowly straightening up. Sasuke watched the whole thing silently, not making any move towards here. Suddenly, Sakura began to talk.

"I'm going to kill you Sasuke." she murmured "I'm going to rip you apart and then I'll go after Kakashi and Naruto. Maybe I'll keep you alive so that you can watch me kill them. That would be funny, wouldn't it? Maybe I'll force you to kill them. I think I'd like that most of all. I'll torture them slowly, so that you can be merciful and kill them quickly. That will make me laugh so much. Doesn't that sound fun Sasuke-kun?"

Nawaki was shaking so hard the branch was trembling. He had never heard his mother speak like this. Her voice was different, emptier .It was horrifying. She spoke with so much hatred, it was like a monster. Nawaki remembered all the times she had told him that revenge and hatred wasn't the answer. Why was she acting like this now? Kakashi and Sasuke were both glaring angrily at her, while Naruto's eyes were shut tightly.

Sasuke threw two shuriken at Sakura, who batted them away with her kunai. He charged at Sakura moving so fast it was like a blur. She tensed, dropping her kunai on the ground and balling her hands into fists. She ran forward and punched the ground directly in front of Sasuke. He dodged the punch and jumped into the air. A shuriken flicked out of each of their hands and clashed in mid-air. Sasuke swung a kick at Sakura and she disappeared in a puff, leaving a log behind. She reappeared further away from Sasuke and he shot across the grass after her. He aimed his arm at her neck, but she grabbed it and squeezed. Nawaki heard a small crack before Sasuke punched her in the side of her head and freed himself.

He aimed another punch directly towards her head but at the last second he disappeared, reappearing behind her. He punched her in the jaw and she smashed into a tree. She was up again a second later, snarling loudly. Nawaki looked at where Sasuke had been standing, but he was no longer there. Nawaki watched as he appeared behind Sakura and kicked, sending her crashing onto the ground. She flipped over and stood up again. She didn't appear hurt at all, but she was shuddering violently.

Sasuke was suddenly right in front of her. She swung at him with both her fists but he caught her by the wrists and pulled her hands over her head. They glared at each other, Sasuke angry and Sakura defiant. Nawaki watched in horror as she spat straight onto his face.

He leant down and kissed her.

Kakashi looked shocked, but also sad, as if he had been expecting this. Naruto's eyes were still screwed shut, but he looked slightly panicky. As for Nawaki, he had never been more stunned in his life.

!

Oki frowned down at the small patch of green grass.

"I can't see. What's happened?"

Hisa wasn't quite sure her sharingan was working. Had she really seen that, or was she trapped in a Tsukuyomi?

"He kissed her."

"What?"

"They were in the middle of fighting and he just… kissed her."

"Oh."

"…"

"Holy shit."

"I know, right?"

!

Sasuke pulled back after a few seconds, still wearing the cold blank expression that was his norm. Sakura blinked heavily a few times, then she stared slowly up at him.

"Sasuke-kun?"

There was no malice or hatred in her words this time. There was only shock and confusion, and maybe something else that Nawaki didn't quite understand.

Before he had given Hisa his sharingan, he had always thought that the feud between his parents would end in one of two ways. The first way was if his mother never came back to the village. Sasuke would continue to pretend that he didn't know that Nawaki was his son, and Nawaki would continue to live alone in Konoha. He wasn't completely happy about this, but he could live with it.

The second option was that Sakura would come back to the village and set the record straight. She and Nawaki would live together until he was old enough to move out, and the two of them would ignore Sasuke as best they could. That option made him slightly happier, although it still didn't feel completely right.

But now, watching what had just happened, a third option that he had never dared to consider popped into Nawaki's head. What if they could be a family together? He and his mother could live with Sasuke, he would have someone other than Obito to help him train, they could visit Naruto and his family once a week… This felt completely right to Nawaki. A real family.

Suddenly, he was snapped out of his daydream. Naruto had yelled something that Nawaki hadn't quite heard. There was a strange sound coming from the field, it sounded like a flock of angry birds…

His eyes focused just in time to watch Sasuke's chidori pierce Sakura's heart.