I do not own these series, nor do I make any money off of this.

"talking"

'thinking'

Chapter 65: Separation I: Sasuke

Neither Naruto nor Sasuke noticed the crack in Naruto's bracelet and neither of them saw the jewel shatter. Naruto felt himself being tugged away from Sasuke. Naruto reached out to grab Sasuke's hand. Naruto's fingers brushed Sasuke's hand as the green light suddenly blinded them. Naruto landed hard against the ground. "Ow!" He blinked as the green light faded. "Dammit that hurt! Sasuke, are you alright?" Silence. "Sasuke?" Naruto looked around but he didn't see him. Calming down, he pulled out his map and searched for Sasuke's name. His eyes moved across the parchment before he frowned. Sasuke's name wasn't on the map. This meant one of two things. Either Sasuke was dead or he wasn't in this world.

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Sasuke cursed, his head hurting. The blinding light had given him a headache. He moved his hand to his head. He briefly wondered if Naruto had any headache medicine. Turning to face him, he finally noticed that Naruto wasn't there. He quickly looked around, but not seeing Naruto, he took out his map. After not seeing Naruto's name, he grabbed the mirror. He waited until Watanuki appeared. "Watanuki."

"Sasuke?" Watanuki asked. Sasuke nodded. "This is a surprise. I guess your journey is still going on. How is Naruto?"

Watanuki's appearance and his choice of words made a few things clear. First, Yuko was dead. If she was alive then she would have answered. Second, that this is the first time Watanuki has been contacted via the mirror despite it being Sasuke's second time. This meant that whatever Sasuke had given Watanuki that was "too much" hadn't been given yet. Sasuke wondered if this meant he'd have to give up something that was "too much" to find Naruto.

"He's not here," Sasuke finally answered.

"What?" Watanuki frowned. "Where is he?"

"That's what I want to know," Sasuke said. "We somehow got separated."

"That shouldn't be possible," Watanuki said. "Those bracelets are linked. As long as both of you are wearing them, you will travel together. He didn't take it off?"

"No," Sasuke said. "We were in the middle of moving on to the next world when the green light got brighter. I landed in this world and using Dumbledore's map, I tried to find Naruto."

"And he's not there," Watanuki finished. "Give me a little time to look into it so I can find out what happened. I'll also see if there is a way to contact Naruto as well to let him know I'm on it."

Sasuke sighed. "Fine." Watanuki nodded before the mirror turned to normal. Sasuke looked down at the map. There were several names of people gathered in one area. A certain name caught Sasuke's eyes. He knew it couldn't be the Kurama he knew, but curiosity won against his instincts to just stay put. He headed towards the area that Kurama and a bunch of other people were.

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Sasuke finally made it through the forest and arrived at a colosseum. There was someone at the entrance, but Sasuke didn't want to make a scene and chose to ignore him. He walked a few feet away so that the guard couldn't see him. Sasuke stares at the wall. The walls were high, but he knew he could easily climb over them. Moving some chakra to his feet, Sasuke started his climb. When he reached the top of the wall, he looked around. His gaze fell upon the center of the ring realizing that this was an arena. Sasuke briefly wondered who amongst all these people was Kurama. He noticed that most of the spectators weren't human, but that didn't faze him.

The fight came to an end as the kid with black hair stood over the burning body of his opponent. Sasuke watched as the green and black sword he used died out. A woman announces that the boy, Hiei won. Three people stood on opposite sides of each other. Sasuke concluded that one of these seven people was Kurama, well six as he eliminated Hiei. A red-head caught his eyes. The woman then rolled two dice. She then called out two names: Ura Urashima and Kurama. Between the two boys, Sasuke concluded that the red-head was indeed Kurama.

Sasuke watched as the fight began. He instantly noticed that something was off. He jumped down, using a Henge to blend in. He took a seat in what had to be the only one available in the entire colosseum. Ignoring his luck, Sasuke stared at the ring as Ura trips only to move behind Kurama and knock him down. He then gave a long speech about Kurama's kindness before pulling out a box. Fog leaked from the box and filled the barrier Ura created. The fog was too thick to see anything normally, so Sasuke activated his sharingan. Luckily, the demons around him were too focused on the fight to notice Sasuke's rise in chakra use. The sharing an allowed him to see through the fog. He couldn't hear what was said but his sharingan allowed him to read lips. From the angel he was sitting at, he could read Kurama's lips, but not Ura's. The announcer stated that she could hear them, but that the voices were different.

Sasuke watched as Kurama pulled something from behind his ear. It grew into vines and branches. They moved towards Ura threateningly as Kurama questioned him. Then Sasuke saw it. A sword flew through the air piercing Ura's neck. Sasuke's retraced the path of the sword, his eyes landing on the man wearing a light blue, nearly white kimono. Kurama also looked at this man. The fog began to vanish as the barrier dropped. It thinned out revealing Kurama's changed appearance. It didn't take long for Kurama's body to return to normal. Kurama was then declares the winner.

Sasuke sat back, as the fights continued. He was waiting for his chance to confront Kurama. He knew that this Kurama wasn't the Kyuubi. There was something about him that made Sasuke want to talk to him. Although Sasuke was lost in thought, he still hears the cries around him. He looked up in time to see a smoke snake with a human skull coming towards him. He easily destroyed it. Sasuke looked around and watched as several of the onlookers were killed. Panic spread through the audience causing several of them to run out of the colosseum. Sasuke remained seated as the fight between the old woman and the man causing all this chaos continued. The old woman, who Sasuke overheard was named Genkai, easily took out her opponent, ending the chaos.

The next fight ended with Kuwabara being teleported away again. Sasuke wondered if it was possible for the old man to send Sasuke to the world Naruto was in. He was about to get up when it was revealed that the old man was really a clown wearing an old man's skin. Sasuke snared as he was reminded of Orochimaru. The clown showed off more of his power by killing someone with a card then using a beam of power to destroy an entire section of the colosseum. Sasuke rolled his eyes. The clown was just being a show off.

Genkai used taijutsu to pumble the clown into the ground. It was sad how easily the clown had been beaten when he apparently taught his teammates how to use the powers he gave them. Really, the man was so stupid. With the match concluded, Kurama's team moved on to the next round. Sasuke didn't care about these details. He was too busy making his plan to confront Kurama. Kurama's team left and Sasuke made to follow them. He was stopped when he felt the power coming from the arena. Curious, Sasuke sat back down. It seemed that Kurama wanted to see who's his next opponents would be as he appeared near Sasuke as the raven was once more lost in thought. The match ended quickly and the team of three won.

Sasuke glanced over towards where Kurama stood, only to notice he was gone. The others around him got up, leaving the colosseum and Sasuke followed them. He made a slight detour as he heard a few demons laughing about Kurama's appending death. He followed the feel of Kurama's power and found him standing before two of the three of his future opponents.

Sasuke sighed. 'Always something getting in the way.'

The two men threaten Kurama before walking away Kurama just stares after them. Sasuke finally sees his chance. He stepped forward and Kurama turned towards him. "What do you want?"

"To talk," Sasuke said.

Kurama glared. "If you want to fight…"

Sasuke held up a hand. "I just want to talk."

A look of surprise appeared on Kurama's face. "You're human."

"Yes," Sasuke said. "And I want to return home." The word home felt strange on Sasuke's tongue.

"There are ways to return to your world," Kurama said. "Portals can be opened depending on the strength needed to move a person. But I don't think that's what you want."

Sasuke frowned. "What do you mean?"

"When you stated that you wanted to return home, you lied," Kurama said. "Though it wasn't a complete lie. I have to wonder why you really want to know about portals."

Sasuke clenched his fist. "Can they be used to bring someone here from another world?"

"Yes and no," Kurama said. "But not the way you seem to want." Sasuke nodded as Kurama turned and walked away. Sasuke didn't even try to stop him.

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Sasuke felt the strong chakra in the air before he saw it. The old woman from before was fighting the man that stated she was the true Genkai. Sasuke racked his brain for his name, until Genkai said it, Toguro. Sasuke stayed back as he watched the fight. The wind picked up and Sasuke was forced to use Chakra to stick to the tree he sat on. The fight ended quicker than expected and when the dust cleared, Toguro was standing over Genkai. But they weren't alone. A boy with short black hair wearing a yellow sleeveless shirt and blue pants stood several feet away. Sasuke blinked and the boy was now cradling Genkai in his arms. To Sasuke's surprise, Genkai was still alive, just not for much longer. He wasn't able to hear what she said to the boy. When she finally passed, the boy let out a yell before charging at Toguro. Toguro wasn't surprised and he ended up sending the boy flying into a tree. Sasuke watched on as Toguro left and the boy came back to Genkai's side. It was at this time that Sasuke chose to leave. It wasn't his place to interfere when someone was grieving.

Sasuke made his way back to the cave he's found only to come across Toguro. "Did you enjoy watching the fight?" Toguro asked. Sasuke remained silent. "I can sense it you know. The power you are trying to hide. And I have to wonder, why aren't you fighting on Yusuke's team? You are clearly stronger than most if not all of those other humans."

"I have no idea what you are talking about," Sasuke said.

"Pretending to be dumb is really foolish," Toguro said. "I guess you don't care what it going to happen to the human world."

"This world means nothing to me," Sasuke said.

Toguro stared at Sasuke, searching for a lie. When he saw none, he just smiled. "Then I suppose it won't mean anything if I kill everyone at the arena in a few days."

Sasuke turned his back on Toguro and began to walk away. "Have fun with that." He walked into the cave ignore the glare Toguro was giving him. He briefly wondered if the man was going to attack him, but it seemed he knew better. Sasuke wasn't dumb. He could tell that Toguro was strong and if they fought, it would be a fight to the death. He had faith in his own power and knew he'd win. Sasuke also knew that a fight with Toguro wasn't worth it as Yusuke, whom Sasuke guessed was the boy from before, would have to be the one to fight him. This didn't stop Sasuke from making a barrier just in case.

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Once more, Sasuke was looking at the map. He was trying to find the clown-man that fought Genkai. Suzuki's name was found far away from the arena. Grabbing his backpack, he headed towards the man. He found him in the same spot the map had said, meaning that Suzuki hadn't moved. Sasuke didn't bother to suppress his chakra as he walked towards him. Suzuki instantly turned around, his eyes landing on Sasuke. He began to sweat with every step Sasuke took. He wondered how someone could be this strong and yet not be fighting in the Dark Tournament

"W-who are you?" Suzuki stuttered. "W-what do y-you want?

"That power you used to send that idiot away, what was it?" Sasuke asked.

"My Dimensional Travel Sphere?" Suzuki asked. Sasuke nodded. "It's a power of mine that traps the target in a sphere of dark energy. It teleports them to a random place."

"Can you pick the place it sends someone?" Sasuke asked.

Suzuki shook his head. "It doesn't work that way. It is random."

"I see," Sasuke said. "Then you're useless." Suzuki frowned. Sasuke reminded him of Toguro. He was clearly a kid that only cared about what was useful to him. Suzuki was tempted to use the sphere to send Sasuke away, but he knew that if he attempted to do so, Sasuke may turn around and kill him. He watched Sasuke walk away from him as a thought came to his mind. He wondered who was stronger, Sasuke or Toguro. Suzuki shook his head. Such a thought was scary. He'd have to just hope that a fight between those two would never happen.

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Sasuke frowned. No one was able to help him. He leaned back against the cave wall wondering if he'd ever see Naruto again. He closed his eyes only to reopen them when he heard the call of his name coming from the mirror in his pocket. Pulling it out, Sasuke saw Watanuki in the glass.

"I've found a way to send you to Naruto," Watanuki said. "However it won't work unless you are in a world that's on the same timeline as the one you are in. Naruto seems to be in a world that is behind yours. That leaves us with two options. You can either wait until Naruto moves onto another world and you stay where you are by simply removing the bracelet, or we send you back in time to a previous moment in the world you are in. That would be a bit more difficult to predict and if we get the timing wrong, you may get stuck in that world as it can only be down once. The decision is yours."

"What's the price?" Sasuke asked.

"To use the Time Egg, which can only be made after a thousand years, the price would be time," Watanuki said with a sad look on his face. "It would cost you half of your remaining life span." Sasuke nodded. "As for the first option, that would also cost time, but just differently. It only costs the time it takes for Naruto to move on to the next world. Since I'm unable to contact him, I'm unable to tell you when that will be. I'll have to constantly use the Space Orb to try and link your bracelets again. The Space Orb costs a lot of energy to use. I'd need to use yours. You need to give me almost all of your chakra for each use. We'd have to do this for however long it takes to get you and Naruto back together."

Sasuke's mind began to race. Neither of the options were good ones. The Time Egg wasn't one hundred percent accurate, but it was the quicker of the two. If he was to chose to use the egg, he and Naruto could be back together by tomorrow. However, it would cost Sasuke half of his life span. This meant if he was only to live for another ten years, he'd have to give up five of them. As for the Space Orb, i would take a long time and although that cost would only be most of his chakra, it would leave Sasuke defenseless. He'd have to hope that no one would try and kill him. Toguro popped up in his mind. He was sure that man wanted Sasuke dead and that the only thing stopping him was Sasuke's chakra. This meant that Sasuke would be risking his life to use the Space Orb and that if it didn't work right away, Sasuke would most likely die before it worked right. Sasuke went through the pros and cons of each option before he nodded. With a look of determination on his face, he gave Watanuki his decision.