Sasuke looked up at the face of his best friend as the pillar of light above them slowly faded away as the dark chakra induced storm clouds slid over the light, which brought with them a sense of renewal as the rain slowly started pouring down.
Sasuke then turned his gaze towars the cobalt blue eyes of the former loser of Konoha. In them he could see traces of pride; pride for finally beating his rival. Anger; anger for him trying to leave. And then finally sadness; sadness that comes with the knowledge that one of his only trusted friends had tried to kill him for the sake of power.
Power that was now unobtainable.
He watched as Naruto clutched his hand over the woulnd to his lung as he applied pressure to stop the bleeding from that last attack he had hit him with. Before his eyes, Sasuke could see that the blood gushing out out of his lung was already healing. It would probably be closed within a couple of hours if he didn't move to much strain or aggravating it.
Sasuke's wounds were superficial in comparrison to his friend's. All he was suffering from was the blow that Naruto had purposely diverted his attack to his right shoulder which which was now bleeding profusely. But Sasuke knew it. Naruto could have easily ended his life right there and then if he wanted to.
He knew it.
Turning his gaze towards his best frineds eyes, Sasuke let out a cough of blood. "What makes you so strong?" Sasuke barely breathed out in a voice that was barely audible. Those few words coming out of Sasuke's mouth were enough to admit defeat to his team mate. But Sasuke needed to know. He needed to know how the former loser of Konoha that couldn't do anything right ended up defeating him. The last Uchiha who had spent almost all of his waking hours to becoming strong.
Naruto was silent for a moment as he stood still gazing down at him with a contemplative look on his face. Eventually, the orange clad boy shook his head as he sighed at how pityful the Uchiha looked lying on the ground at his feet.
"Killing him means everything to you, doesn't it Sasuke?" Naruto said sadly as he turned his gaze towards the storm clouds brewing over head as the pouring rain whipped across his face. Sasuke could just make out the tears across his friend's rain splattered face as we watched him try and figure out what to do. However, he said nothing. Naruto then turned his sights back down to the ground where Sasuke lay broken and beaten before him. "Why does your revenge consume you so? Why do you let that man take control of your life even though he left it all those years ago?"
Sasuke let a contemplative silence fall over the two of them before speaking up. "He took everything I knew and tore it up in front of my eyes," He croaked as he tried unsuccessfully to force the memories away. "I'm suffering now because I had those bonds to begin with." He turned his eyes away as he looked to the waterfall near them. "You don't understand what is like to have everything you ever loved only to have it destroyed in front of your very eyes." His own set of tears started leaking out of his eyes. "I want to kill him so their souls can rest peacefully."
Naruto looked down at his friend for a few seconds before sighing softly, He closed his eyes and then reopened them after half a minute of contemplative silence. Slowly, a small smile started forming on his face.
"It's because I have people who I care about and would do anything to protect them, even if it cost me my life. I learned long ago that without someone that is truly precious to you, you can never be strong. That is why I beat you Sasuke. You are my best friend Sasuke. That is why I would risk my life to prevent you from giving your life to Orochimaru. To protect you from yourself."
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"Kakashi! It's started to rain!" Pakkun the ninja hound exclaimed to his summoner as he lead Kakakshi to where he Sasuke had been intercepted.
"Do you still have Sasuke's scent?" Kakashi asked urgently as he raced after the hound at sonic speeds. "The rain won't wash away the scent will it?"
"No, their scent has generally clumped together into one mass up ahead a couple of kilometers from here which is where they fought. Right now they aren't moving and even through the rain the stench of blood is still potent."
Kakashi processed this information as he looked up at the heavily Demon induced Chakra saturated clouds. Considering the general area, Kakashi came down to one conclusion of where the two boys actually had their confrontation. By now, a foolproof plan had already formulated in his head.
"Pakkun, you better go back to your realm." The hound in question turned his gaze towards his summoner. "Judging by that thick stench of blood you smelt, that means that the both of them are hostile. The hound nodded as he got the meaning behind what Kakashi was getting at as he puffed away in a cloud of smoke, best not get involved in a fight between either of Kakashi's two students.
"I can only hope I'm not too late, Obito." He muttered to himself as the Valley of the End came into view.
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Sasuke stared to the heavens as he contemplated the words Naruto had spoken about his source of strength.
If what he said was true; that having someone you would gladly protect with your own life and soul was the source behind true strength.
Then what was hate?
Throughout his life, Sasuke had lived life with the sole purpose of killing his brother. And where had that left him? He had everything he ever wanted handed to him on a silver platter, everyone wanted to be his friend. Naruto on the other hand...
Naruto had started life with nothing. He had to struggle to get every scrap of substances that weren't worthy enough to feed to a orphanage full of starving children. And when Naruto was growing up, he was always insulted and beaten up for practically no reason at all; no children would go near him in fear of reprimandation and eventually started picking up mannerisms of the adults of the village.
Sasuke seriously doubted Naruto had at least one person that considered him anymore than an acquaintance at best.
Naruto had lived a life where it was expected of him to hate everything around him, yet he still held onto his beliefs about precious people. And he was a better man for it.
Sasuke was the only person in the world that considered Naruto as a friend. His best friend.
And then what did he try to do? He tried to send his fist through Naruto's heart with the intention of killing him.
Hate was the path to self destruction.
"Naruto," He croaked out as his voice was getting dry as he looked up at the face of his best friend. "I'm sorry."
Sasuke watched as the light came back into his friend's eyes as the first true smile formed on his face. "Come on Sasuke!" Naruto exclaimed, exuberance sounding in his voice as he hoisted his best friend to his feet, ignoring the pain filled grunts that Sasuke unwillingly let out from his shoulder wound as the rain slowly stopped and the clouds started dissipating.
"Lets go back to Konoha so we can tell everyone how I totally kicked your ass!" Naruto cheered as he let go of Sasuke as he pumped his fists into the air. By now, the wound to his lung had formed a light scar over his lung.
Sasuke raised an eyebrow as Naruto started walking away. Not at his team mate's antics, but because he felt something around that he had felt before that shouldn't be there. As the rain slowly drew to slight trickle, he finally realized what it was. But why?
"Whats the matter Sasuke?" Naruto asked as he turned back around to face his team mate. Before Sasuke could even even say anything however, their was a flash of movement, the sound of chirping birds, and a bloodied hand sticking out of Naruto's chest.
"Wha-" He choked on his own blood which spluttered out of his mouth which splattered over the ground along with the blood now pooling around his feet as he reached his hands towards the one which had just pierced it's way through his torso. Slowly, he turned his head to stare at the impassive eyes of who he called his sensei. "Wh-Why?" He choked out as Kakashi ripped his hand back out of Naruto's re injured lung which caused Naruto to fall to his knees.
"What are you doing!?" Sasuke shouted. Ignoring the wound in his shoulder, he ran toward Kakashi who, not even taking his eyes off the boy kneeling before him, was kicked and was sent bouncing along the ground and rolled to a stop. Sasuke struggled to get up but could barely lift his body more than a few centimeters above the ground before unconsciousness over took him.
"Why are y-you do-ing this?" Naruto spluttered out as he continued to cough up blood. He no longer had the strength to hold himself up and dropped his arms to stabilize himself. He looked up at his Sensei's eyes with confusion and was met with emotionless and apathy.
"You are detrimental to my goals and Sasuke's progress." He told Naruto without a care in the world. "It would be best for all of us if you do not come back to Konoha." Kakashi said simply as he turned away and walked over to Sasuke's fallen body. "Don't make me have to kill you, it would be a shame to have to kill a student." He muttered without really meaning anything. "No one cares for you Naruto." Then without another word, he picked up the body of his favored student and leaped away, leaving Naruto to whatever fate had install for him.
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"I have done as you said, Obito,"Kakashi said to no one as he leaped over the branches on his way back to Konoha. "Sasuke no longer is on his wat to Orochimaru and Naruto is no longer a part of the village." All was silent as he leaped over more branches as the scenery blurred past.
Kakashi smiled to himself as he leaped over the never ending number of branches of the Konoha Forest's trees. No one could refute his story about having to attack the Jinchuuriki if the fool ever tried to get back into the village, not that he would get the chance anyway. No one could deny that he had let the Kyuubi out because he felt it like a tidal wave when he first left the village in search of Sasuke. He would just tell Tsunade that the seal had become unstable and he had to do something about the boy before the Kyuubi gained control again. And besides, even if Tsunade didn't believe him, the council would easily override her, her oppinion didn't matter anyway.
Kakashi turned his to look at his young charge on his back as he thought about what to do for the rest of his team. Hopefully he could ditch the girl so he could focus primarily on making it up to Obito by restoring his clan's former prestige to what it was, perhaps even something more. Naruto and Sakura were both detrimental to this goal. 'It's what Obito would have wanted.' He thought to himself.
You see, Kakashi didn't care for any of his subordinates. Not Naruto, not Sakura. Nor even Sasuke. The only reason he favored the Uchiha was to fulfill his promise he made to Obito's name to bring honor back to his clan.
Kakashi was cut out of his musings when he felt a medic nin of four rapidly approaching his position. He turned his head towards the leader and nodded.
"How is the Uchiha, sir?" The leader of the team asked, the concern in his voice was heard with little strain to the ears.
"It appeared that when I had arrived, his shoulder had been almost torn to pieces from an attack from Naruto." He began his tale to criminalise Naruto. "It appeared that the fox had taken over and Naruto was lost to it." The medics were shocked to say the least. "I did what I could to minimize colateral damage."
One of the medics tried to hide his hope but failed miserably. "Is the Jinchuuriki dead?" He asked.
Kakashi shook his head solemnly. "I did what I could but the host escaped. I didn't take off after him because I had to get Sasuke back." Was all Kakashi said, giving off the impression he no longer wanted to talk about 'failing' his student.
"So how are the others doing? Are they alright?" He asked. Not because he cared, but it gave the impression he did.
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"Why?" Hicoughed the broken Naruto as he struggled to comprehend why his world and everything he trusted had ripped itself to pieces right before his eyes. "Why?" He said with a little more conviction as he got to his feet, the Kyuubi's chakra already healling the wound to his lung. Why would Sasuke throw away their friendship for the sake of attaining power? Why would Kakashi try to kill him for no reason at all. "Why!?" He screamed to the heavens as he let loose a wave of chakra which blew all the trees that were nearby to their sides.
"True power is to protect my precious people? That is not power." His wound to his lung had already healed from the massive influx of Kyuubi chakra. "I have no one precious to me." He spoke with the conviction of a mass murderer. "With that goal I would have been dead many times over if it weren't for the damn Kyuubi."
"Is that why Sasuke was powerful? Because he let hate consume him? Because he only focused on making himself stronger?" He had to admit it, without the fox, Sasuke would have anihilated him.
"Protecting others is useless." He grinned madly, the Kyuubi's power circulating all around his body. "If I protect others, I will be needlessly be placing my life at risk. From now on, I will fight only for myself and my life however I want not give a damn about the consequences." He giggled as he turned his gaze down towards his stomach. The charkra illuminating the seal on his naval that kept the fox inside of him.'May as well milk the damn thing for all it's worth.' He grinned as he drew the most amount of charkra from the fox that he ever had before.
Not too far away, a humanoid plant like organism watched on as the Jinchuuriki let the demon inside of him take over. "He is now right for the taking." Zetsu grinned to himself as he started walking towards the boy.
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Story notes: My story from Fanfiction (dot) net under the account Attack of the Moron if you recognise it.
For what I plan for this fic, it will be one of the most unique take on what happened if Naruto beat Sasuke at the Valley of the End.
Purely for a fact that Naruto goes missing and ISN'T the main character. Instead it focuses on Sasuke who takes the place of being banished instead.
Can be classed as slight AU as Kakashi is on the eviler side of the spectrum.
Chapter end notes: So tell me what you think of it.
Keep this in mind; I do NOT bag out any characters so there will be no bashing Sakura and Sasuke. The only thing close to bashing I will do is that they will be treated as evil characters with credible power.