Can our inner demons love
Chapter Twenty Two
Eyes Wide Open (The Fight)
When Naruto stood at the edge of The Valley of the End, the first thing he thought was, "Wow, it's not as big as I thought it would be." Having read all the history books on the Hokage's, the stories all made it seem that the valley was this unending expanse of water, red sand, and two very large statues.
The statues were impressive I will give you that but the waterfall was only 20 feet wide and the whole valley was maybe 150 or 200 yards across. He was not impressed by the storybooks at all. What were they thinking, making it seems so grand?
Seeing Sasuke climbing up the other side of the cliff Naruto weighs his options, run-down, yell, or some other foolish thing or lets be more practical. He bends down picks up a fist-sized rock and with his tongue between his teeth throws it across the valley. The arc is high and slow with just a bit of spin to add some style as it falls down and hits Sasuke in the head.
"That should do it." Naruto thinks jumping down and running across the water to where Sasuke unconscious body landed, he hopes he didn't break anything more than his pride. As he steps foot on the sandy shore a Kunai flashes by as he moves his head slightly to the left to avoid it. "So you still want to play it that way Huh?", says Naruto throwing a fist full of Shurkens at the rocks Sasuke was hiding behind.
Sasuke deflects a couple of shurikens with his blade and uses his glare-no-jutsu on Naruto. Naruto unfazed, creates a shadow clone, it turns around and wiggles its ass at Sasuke as the real Naruto drops low and runs over the water to the right to get a better angle on him.
Once in place, Naruto then sprints towards Sasuke, the black haired avenger stands still not paying attention to the real Naruto as the clone has dropped its pants to show off his ass and oversized balls to Sasuke. Reaching Sasuke Naruto throws a punch at him, but as soon as he does, Sasuke ducks, grabs onto Naruto's wrist, and spin kicks Naruto in the stomach, again sending him flying into the arms of his clone bursting it on impact. 'So the petty boy has some real good reflexes,', thinks Naruto picking himself up off the sandy exposed river bed.
Sasuke watches Naruto landing on the ground in a cloud of clone smoke only for Naruto to jump up and leaps at him, Sasuke moved up the cliff face once again, trying to use the high ground to his advantage, everyone knows you always win if you have the high ground. Landing on the stone wall just below Sasuke, Naruto kicks him in the head causing him to back-flip off the cliff back to the valley floor below. 'So much for the high ground', Sasuke thinks standing on the moving water looking up.
"Fire Dancing Meteors!", yells Sasuke lobbing over thirty small fireballs up at Naruto, they spin in a helix formation smashing into the stone cliff sending molten rocks flying everywhere.
Naruto jumps and lands on the surface of the waterfall feet first in a squatting position and then with extreme force, pushes himself up off the water so he can stand face to face with Sasuke. Naruto realizes as he runs forward with the roaring waterfall to his back, that Sasuke is nowhere to be found.
"Dam sneaky bastard," he says looking around for the black haired would-be fratricidal lunatic.
Spotting Sasuke on the edge of the river standing next to a house sized bolder Naruto hears him scream out, "Magma Dragon", Sasuke smashes his hands to the rock face and the bolder turns to liquid rock and taking the form of a Dragon rushes at Naruto.
"Dam Sasuke, were did you learn that from, your grandmother's diary.", screamed out Naruto as he runs for his life making hands signs as he goes. Hitting the last hand sign he spins and yells, "Twin Wind Water vortex!", causing two towers of water and wind to rise up out of the river and rush headlong into the Magma Dragon.
As the river valley fills with hot stream, raining little rock pellets Naruto puts his hands on his knees to catch his breath, that little combination jutsu took a lot out of him. Hearing thunder he jumps a little before looking up and seeing the clouds flash and rain start to pour down.
Naruto hears a sound behind him, of course, and spins around to be greeted by a fist to the face. He goes with the blow back-flipping away hoping to kick the prick in the head and lands with a kunai in his hand.
Seeing a grand fireball coming at him Naruto manages to get out of the way, leaving Sasuke's jutsu to hit the wall of the cliff, burning the stone and making debris fly everywhere, most of it landing in the water, some even flying across the valley. A drop of water falls on Naruto face, surprisingly burning him. Naruto seeing that the water is boiling from the overheated rocks that landed in it, looks over to Sasuke. "What you doing there Sasuke, wasting chakra again, I thought Sensei taught you better then that.", yells out Naruto as he runs down river to get some distance between them. The smell of burning fish fills the air as they come floating to the top before being taken away by the current of the river.
Watching Sasuke pull his shirt off and throw it to the side he guesses that even an Uchiha doesn't like to be in hot water. "What's the matter Sasuke, too hot for ya!", Naruto taunts grabbing his own balls and laughing like a lunatic. Knowing he needs to to keep Sasuke in a blind rage so he doesn't just run off again. Naruto sees his plan is working to piss Sasuke off even more, Sasuke loses his cool and runs straight at him. 'Now that is what'am talking about.', thinks Naruto as Sasuke in a blind rage runs straight at him.
Both Shinobi meet in the middle of the river and Sasuke ducks under Naruto's wild swing, latches onto his extended arm, with a spin Sasuke throws Naruto a 100 feet to then land at the other side of the valley near the waterfall, now with each on one side of the Valley. Naruto under the 1st Hokage's statue, Sasuke, under Madara Uchiha's statue the stage is set.
"What's the matter Sasuke you losing your touch, I didn't even feel that," Naruto yells across the valley trying to buy some time to think up a plan. "You're making me think we aren't friends anymore."
Sasuke uses his patented glared-no-jutsu and yells back, "I don't have friends anymore." at Naruto but getting no reaction runs up the cliff face and then turns around to run back down hoping to gain enough speed to knock that grin off of that idiot's face.
'Mmm, he is coming pretty fast.', thinks Naruto as he uses a wind Jutsu to push a wave of water up in front of Sasuke who blows thought it at full speed. Surprised the water didn't slow him down even a little Naruto thinks, 'Maybe I pushed him a little to hard', as he turns and runs knowing Sasuke wasn't slowing down one little bit, Naruto creates a clone in his place to keep running as he drops into the water only to reach out of the water and trips Sasuke as he runs headlong after the close.
Landing on his face and then skipping across the water like a flat stone he flies by Naruto's clone, missing by only an inch, and slams into the base of the waterfall. 'That worked better than I thought it would.', thinks Naruto as he runs to the waterfall hoping for the chance to kick Sasuke in his petty face.
Not seeing the little avenger anywhere he sees a reflection in the water at his feet and looks up to see another grand fireball coming straight down this time. Stopping the chakra in his feet he drops into the water and lets the current carry him out of the soon-to-be boiling water. Watching all the dead fish float by he waits until he is a couple hundred feet down stream before showing himself.
Popping back to the surface he can see Sasuke standing on the head of his ancestor looking down at him. Naruto waves and says, "Wait right there, I will be up in a minute." knowing this will add a little more fire to Sasuke's frustration he creates another clone army and sends them rushing up the waterfall and the side of the statue.
The scream of pure rage he hears tells him that, ya Sasuke is pissed, and it's time to get serious.
Running up the side of the first Hokage he waits for the cloud of smoke from the clones to fad so he can see Sasuke, he is bent over with a storm of back chakra swirling around him, reaching the top Naruto faces Sasuke across the top of the waterfall each boy now ready to let loose.
Sasuke has transformed into some weird gray-skinned, red eyes batman but with giant webbed hands as wings. With his hair now a dark gray color to match his new skin tone, it sticks out as if he was full of electricity. Naruto can see sparks bouncing around his fingertips and up to the tips of the wing-like hands.
"Dam Sasuke, You stick your dick in a light socket?" Naruto's taunting breaks the spell. "You're not going to find any baby mama with that face.". Sasuke launches himself across the water with his wing things flapping and lightning sparking off his hands. Slamming into a Naruto clone only to land on his face and slide over the edge of the statue. "I Hate You,", he screams as he goes over the edge.
It's a good 50-foot drop and Sasuke can see Naruto waiting at the bottom of the drop with a ball of blue chakra in his hand. Extending his wing things to slow himself down some, he calls on the curse seal and creates a super-sized Chidori. Aiming for the blonde's head of hair. If this is another clone he is going to lose his mind and just go back to the village and kill everyone.
Naruto tries to time it just right slamming his Rasengan into Sasuke's side but he is still hit by the Chidori on the shoulder. The electrical shock shoots through him and into the water, he can feel his feet burn and his shoulder explode in a profusion of pain.
The force of the Rasengan sends Sasuke flying uncontrollably back into the cliff face, he can feel the curse seal healing the broken ribs but he is still disoriented when a fist slams into his face preventing him from getting up. Soon his world is nothing but orange-clad clones piling into him some bursting on their own in the rush to get a hit in.
Using a great ball of fire to burn them all to hell he stands up and breathing heavy looks for the orange monster, he really needs to kill that little blonde bastard. Knowing Naruto likes to use unpredictable attacks he keeps spinning around as he walks forward, looking, searching for his blonde teammate.
"Come out here and fight you clanless coward!" he screams to the wind. Spinning around again hoping to catch Naruto in the act.
"I may be clanless but I at least don't come from a clan of psychopaths like you!". Yell back Naruto from the other side of the river, the water tripping all over the stones at his feet. Sasuke can see a red glow about him as his shoulder heals and his eyes turn orange to match his jacket.
Sasuke's hands twitch with unreleased power as his seal flares foreign Chakra into his system, "Earth Style, Stone Bullets." Sasuke screams as hundreds of stones shoot across the river at Naruto, the few that hit him burn on impact and fall to the ground.
Taking a deep breath Sasuke tries again, "Great Fire Annihilation!", forcing all the chakra in his body to expel out from his mouth and shape into a sea of fire that rushes at Naruto. The fire spreads out wide and tall, nearly impossible to avoid. This is the pinnacle of Uchiha Fire Release Jutsu and Sasuke's grandfather's notes said to use it only as a last resort.
Naruto seeing a literal ocean of fire coming at him can only think of one thing, "Wind Style, Great Barrier.", he yells using the Kyubbi's chakra along with his own to push a great wall of wind into the river forcing a wall of water up over his head in a swirling clash of three elements. The wind pushing the water, the water fighting the fire, the fire trying to burn everything in its path as it feeds off the wind and roars into the sky as a great geyser of over heated hate with a mixture of wind, water and fire hitting the lowest of the rain clouds over head.
Seconds turn to minutes as both boys push there will into the chakra monsters they have created until totally spent they fall back onto the rivers banks waiting, one to see if he won and the other wondering if he can win.
It takes 10 or 15 minutes for the valley to clear, more then enough time for Sasuke to run away but he stays waiting to see the burnt corpse and blacken bones of his teammate. As storm clouds blow the last of the smoke and stream out of the valley. Each shocked for different reason that the other is still standing there. Naruto gives Sasuke the middle finger and one of his trademark grins to show his is still alive. Enough is enough as they both run at each other in a fit of rage, this has gotten personal and all pretense of this being between friends is gone. The clash in the middle of the river is all fist and teeth as they both forget all their training and turn this into a no-hold-bar street fight.
Twenty minutes later they are still rolling around on the top of the water when Sasuke uses both legs to kick Naruto away. They both stand facing each other covered in blood, some theirs, some not. Both boy's chakra having returned being replenished by the demons they both contain.
Looking at the statues over Naruto's head Sasuke says, "It fitting that I kill you here where it all ended once before. With you dead I will be more powerful than you can ever imagine."
Calling on the Nine-Tail for some help Naruto feels the burning red chakra start to bubble out of the seal on his stomach, "I don't know Sasuke I can image a lot."
Naruto is now covered in the cloak of the Kyubbi with one tail lashing behind him and Sasuke fully transforms into the final form of the curse seal. The lines on Sasuke's face turn bright red then fad to black repeatedly as the power of the curse seal floods his system. All hope of reasoning with him is gone and only death or complete incapacitation will stop him now.
"I hate you!", Sasuke screams with all the hate the curse seal feeds him, calling forth a Flapping Chidori he runs at Naruto.
"Fuck YOU, you soulless bastard." Yells back Naruto creating a Demon Fox Rasengan in his hand, springing forward to put an end to this bullshit of a fight. He can only thank the gods for a sensei that truly cared enough show him the true path to a perfect Rasengan.
The two jutsu clash with Sasuke's Chidori sliding off the Rasengan and as he watches in slow motion his arm enters Naruto's chest. The Rasengan hits his side and moves up to his left-wing and blows it completely off with a spray of black blood into the water. The pain that racks his body is beyond anything Sasuke has felt before as he hugs Naruto to him with one arm in his friend's chest, "Time to die, loser." he grunts out. Naruto places his hands around Sasuke's throat wishing he could pull his head clean off, feeling one hand on the curse seal in the choke hold he decides to channels all the Kyubbi's chakra he can into the dammed seal. Maybe he can kill this dam seal before he dies.
A 30-foot wide bubble of red and black chakra forms around them as the Kyubbi's chakra fights to burn the piece of Orochimaru's soul out of the Uchiha. The battle of the two ethereal chakra monsters was visible for miles to any to witness had they been unlucky enough to be there. In the middle of it all was a black-haired boy screaming his lungs out as his sometimes blonde friend lays lifeless in his arms. Naruto's death grip on his neck, pushing Chakra into him burned into his very soul.
As the battle continues the two else wise teammates float high into the air, the wind buffers them from one cliff wall to the other leaving burn marks on the stone face where the chakra bubble touches. Time has no meaning in the bubble as an eternity of pain goes by in a second.
The black chakra sizzles to the top of the bubble as the lifeless forms float lower to the ground and with an almost perceptible agonizing scream it burns out in the red sea of chakra Naruto had summoned.
With what strength he has left Sasuke gently lowers Naruto to the ground pulling his arm from his chest leaving cuts along his arm as the broken ribs leave their mark. He is shaken to his core not believing what he has done to his only friend, for the first time in his life his mind is clear of hate and he tries to convince himself it was the seal but knowing that is not totally true.
With the last of the Kyuubi chakra leaving his body to gather around Naruto in a viscous pool that is slowly collecting back into the seal on his stomach, Sasuke falls to the ground near the lifeless body of his teammate, he losing consciousness on the way down. He lands with one arm across Naruto's chest as if in a lovers embrace even as blood pools around them from the lifeless form of Naruto.
Kakashi arrives 10 minutes later with a medical team only a few minutes behind to take his Genins to the hospital. He scans the area looking for any sign of an enemy he can vent his rage on but finds only the silent stone statues casting there cruel judgment on him.
….
This was harder to write then any other chapter so far both from a style and content view point.
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